At Your Side
by Draven Star
Summary: Mara Jade is forced to marry Luke, who has joined Vader and is now a Sith. Used to be Yours Other Version, but I changed the title so they wouldn't be confusing.
1. Default Chapter

At Your Side 

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or any original dialogue from books or the movies.

This is an AU, so keep that in mind before you leave me bad reviews about what's "wrong" in my story.

I deleted Dark Hearts: Luke/Mara Version, because not many people were reading it and I thought it was moving too slowly. This is sort of a re-write of it.

**Chapter One**

Mara Jade let out a sigh and sat down on the white couch. She wanted to cry, but refused to do so in front of her parents. She was angry, as well as scared and upset, but she wasn't going to let them see the latter two emotions. After a moment, she glared at her mother again. Her green eyes had an almost vicious look.

"Why?" she asked. She meant for her tone to be more demanding, but at least her voice was steady.

"We don't have a choice," Rose said. She ran her hand through her shoulder-length hair - which was red, but not the same vibrant, firey red as Mara's.

"And it's not just that," Shayne added. "We..."

"Don't tell her," Rose interrupted.

Mara looked at her. "What? I have a right to hear it, considering how miserable I feel already."

That second sentence was actually a line from one of her plays, which her adopted parents recognized, but it was appropriate for her mood. They looked at each other, making her guess that they might not tell her the entire truth.

Shayne sighed. "We don't want to give you up, Mara..."

"But again, we have no choice," his wife emphasized.

He glanced at her, then continued, "In addition to that, we will be given five million credits for our cooperation."

Mara stood up. "You're selling me?"

"You are going even if we do not accept the money."

"Mara, listen," Rose tried, "since there isn't anything we can do, we might as well cooperate. Besides, we can help my sister and her husband pay for their new house, and Shayne's parents need a new speeder..."

Mara did not care to listen to this anymore, though she did understand that they had no choice. But she would not admit that, either. They were not going to get any sympathy from her. She knew that she wasn't helping the situation - but Rose and Shayne were barely hesitating to give her up, and they seemed quite happy to take the five million credits.

She left the living room, without saying anything else, and went upstairs.

* * *

Mara's bedroom was the smallest on the house's second floor, but she liked it. The window had a nice view of the backyard and, beyond the fence, the forest. There was also a large tree growing here, close to the house. Mara could easily climb onto one of the thick branches and ease her way down the to the ground. After that, getting over the fence was not difficult. She had snuck out several times. She glanced around the room. Her walls were not painted, but posters from a few of her plays hung on them, which was enough decoration. The blankets on her bed were the same light purple as her couch.

Glancing at her feet, she noticed a small stain on the beige carpet, probably a drop from the hot chocolate she had been drinking last night. She was about to go into the bathroom and get a washcloth, but then realized that there was not much point in keeping this room clean now. She was going to have a new home.

A buzz came from the bedroom door. She hesitated, but finally went and answered it. It was Rose. She looked as if she had just been crying.

"I know that you're angry..." she started.

"Not at all," Mara said sarcastically.

Rose closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again.

"I know that you're angry," she tried again, "but your father and I need to finish talking with you."

Hearing that suddenly made Mara feel strange. She had always called Shayne "Dad" and Rose "Mom", even after they told her that she was adopted. But now, they felt less like parents. She had no memory of her real parents, but wondered if they would approve of her being married off for five million credits.

"Mara? Can I come in?"

"You can talk while you're standing here, can't you?" Mara asked.

Rose sighed and tried to ignore her bitterness. "You leave a week from today. You can't take anything with you."

"Why not?"

"I don't know."

Mara made a faint, unfriendly smile. "Alright. What else?"

"None of the Imperial officers said anything about us being able to visit with you," Rose continued, "but if you're good and all of us cooperate, perhaps they'll allow us to see you."

"That's okay. I don't want to see you."

"I know you don't really mean that, but you do have a right to say it."

"Will you leave me alone now?" Mara asked. Her tone was not any softer.

Rose left. Mara closed the door, then went and curled up on her couch. Outside, the sky was almost dark. She doubted she would get any sleep tonight, or for a while. She would be sharing a bed with Luke Skywalker. Darth Vader and Amidala Vader would be her in-laws.

She wondered why Luke wanted her, and how he had heard of her. She had stayed on Imperial City a few times, for some of her plays, but could not remember seeing the second-in-command of the Empire at any of them. That definately would have made her or one of the other actors forget a line or two.

* * *

Luke Skywalker had already chosen Mara Jade, even before receiving information on her. Being Darth Vader and Amidala Vader's son, he could pick any girl in the galaxy to capture and marry. Most other twenty-three-year-old men would dream of having that privelege, but Luke viewed it as more of a task to complete - an enjoyable task, though. He wanted to have a son or daughter to train. His mother and twin sister had suggested a few names - daughters and nieces of some Imperial officers, wealthy heiresses and socialites - but Mara's name kept coming back to his mind. A couple of weeks ago, while Leia had been looking at a magazine, her brother noticed the red-haired human girl in an ad on the back cover.

At the moment, Leia Skywalker - she no longer called herself Leia Organa - was inside the kitchen of her and Luke's house. They lived on Naboo, in the Lake Country. The nearest town was a few miles away. There was one house next to theirs, which their parents owned.

Leia poured a glass of lemonade, then looked at the paper Luke had received from one of his and Vader's spies. It was Mara Jade's personal record, along with a few pictures the spy had taken.

"I've seen her," she said as she walked into the living room. She sat on the couch, next to her brother. "I saw one of her plays last year. Do you want a drink?"

"No."

"Is she Force-strong?"

"Yes." Luke looked at the pictures of his bride. "I felt her presence when we were on Yavin Eight earlier."

Leia took a sip of her lemonade. "I can hardly wait to meet her."

* * *

"Can I get married, too?" Erica asked, sitting down at the table. With her shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes, she looked nothing like her older sister, which was more proof that Mara was adopted.

"No," Shayne answered, faking a laugh. "You just turned thirteen last week."

"Mara just turned seventeen last month."

"Let's not talk about the wedding right now," Rose replied.

"Why not?" Mara interjected. She looked at Erica with an almost sinister smile, which made Rose uneasy. "I'm going to carry a bouquet with dark red roses, and my bridesmaids are going to wear black-and-gold gowns..."

"Eew. Creepy," Erica commented.

"I guess you won't be coming to the ceremony, then. It's going to be in a big, dark cave, and since you're _afraid_ of the dark..."

"I am not!"

"Mara, don't tease her," Shayne said. He meant for his voice to sound more firm, but decided that scolding wasn't going to make her the least bit nervous.

Rose took a sip from her glass of water. "Since Mara has to leave in a week, Erica, we've decided to let you stay home from school until then."

"Great!" she exclaimed. "Thanks, Mara."

Mara seemed to be mostly ignoring everyone now. She was quiet, although she did not look sad. Rose reached over to pat her shoulder, but she stood up and left the room.

* * *

Rose and Shayne left Mara alone for the rest of the night. She remained in her bedroom. When she turned on her holomovie screen, there was a romance flick playing. A young human man was proposing to his girlfriend, a Twi'lek. Despite being unable to relate to the loving scene, Mara did not bother changing the channel. Since she could not take anything with her, she did not have to worry about packing. She wondered why her fiancée had set that condition. Perhaps he did not want her to have reminders of her old life. She doubted that he would allow Rose and Shayne to visit her in person.

An hour or so later, she went to bed. She had a surprisingly sound sleep, without any nightmares about Luke Skywalker or their wedding.


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

Mara did not do much the next day. Rose and Shayne wanted to take her and Erica shopping - Erica, really, since Mara was not going to be taking any of her belongings to her and her fiancée's house. Mara lied and said she did not feel well, so Shayne stayed home with her. He probably had to make sure that she did not try to run away.

She continued secluding herself in her bedroom for most of the day. Whenever Shayne came and tried to talk to her, she complained that he had just disturbed her from a nice nap.

While she was drying her hair, after taking a shower, Mara thought of how Luke Skywalker had picked a wonderful time to capture her. She had only been in plays so far, but had gotten more than one holomovie offers, and one for a new soap opera.

So far, though, Mara was only angry with Shayne and Rose. She found it hard to despise Luke when she had not even met him yet.

* * *

Later that evening, Rose asked Mara if she wanted to watch a holomovie with her and Erica. She almost said no, but she was kind of bored after hiding in her bedroom most of the day. Just so that she wouldn't look as if she were trying to be nicer, though, she rolled her eyes and followed her mother and sister downstairs. 

"I think Prince Skywalker is kind of cute," Erica said, opening a soda.

"He's mine," Mara replied, just to tease her.

"Have you tried on any of your new clothes yet, Erica?" Rose asked, wanting to change the subect.

"Yeah," she said. "The yellow skirt is a little too big. Can I have some of your clothes after you move out, Mara?"

"Erica!" Shayne said.

"Well, she's not taking any of them with her."

Her sister said nothing. The holomovie paused, and a commercial for wedding planners came on. Mara smirked. Rose gave her another you're-not-helping-anything look, but she ignored it.

* * *

Mara met her fiancée two days later. When it was almost dark outside, she told Rose and Shayne that she was tired, and coldly avoided their good-night hugs. When she returned to her room, she climbed onto the tree outside her window. She was wearing boots, so it was easy. 

Once she was on the ground, she looked up at Erica's window. The light pink curtains were still closed. She turned and scaled the ten-foot-high wooden fence, and dropped down to the ground. By now, she was almost perfect at landing on her feet.

She walked along the edge of the fence, and around to the back. Less than ten feet away, the forest began. She stared at the trees for a moment. When she was younger, she had been afraid of going into them, especially at night. Now they seemed more welcoming than her house.

For the first time since hearing about her arranged engagement, Mara came close to crying. She would have, if she hadn't turned and seen that somebody was standing beside her now.

"Your Highness," she said calmly, despite her surprise. She had not heard anybody approaching. She looked at him for a moment, almost forgetting to bow.

"Were you thinking of fleeing already?" Luke asked, not sounding angry. "Without even meeting me?"

"No," Mara answered honestly. "I come out here all the time, to watch the sunset, or to get away from everyone."

"Including me, I would guess."

"Actually, you're the least annoying person I've been around in the last few days."

"And I am the one causing this," Luke pointed out.

Mara shrugged. Right now, she looked like a Sith Lord's fiancée. She was wearing a black skirt that stopped just above her knees, along with a long-sleeved black shirt. Around her neck was a thin grey chain, which had a small, dark-green dragon. In the remaining sunlight, the dragon's red jewel eyes almost glowed. On one of her wrists was a silver bracelet that looked like a snake.

"Hopefully my parents are asleep now," she said, wanting to break the quietness.

"I have seen holographs of them. They look nothing like you," Luke replied.

"I am adopted."

"Did you know your real parents?" her fiancée asked. He had already guessed that she was adopted - no one else in her family was Force-sensitive.

"I don't remember them. Mom- Rose and Shayne have had me since I was a year old." Mara glanced at the fence behind her. "I should probably go back inside, My Lord."

"Do they know you are here?"

"No. I was thinking of going for a walk, but I am a little tired."

"Very well," Luke said.

Mara looked at him with her emerald eyes. She had to agree with Erica - he was not unattractive. The thought of seeing him every day wasn't painful. Not that she was jumping up and down about the engagement, but she decided to be thankful that she was not marrying a Hutt gangster.

"Good night," she replied.


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

When Mara woke up the next morning, she hardly believed that she had talked to Luke. She must have been dreaming. Glancing at the clock on her wall, she saw that it was almost noon.

After she took a shower and got dressed, she went downstairs. On the kitchen table was a note from Rose, saying that she, Shayne, and Erica had gone shopping and to the park.

They could have asked me if I wanted to go, Mara thought, then realized that they expected her to still be in a bad mood. She felt surprisingly better today. For a moment, she started to understand why Rose and Shayne wanted to accept the five million credits. They could probably use the money.

Then she pictured them buying a mansion, getting one or two new speeders, and a pet bantha for Erica. The thought of them happily buying expensive clothes and hiring maids brought back Mara's anger. She narrowed her eyes, looking at the note again. So what if the prince of the galaxy wanted to marry her? Her parents were not even fighting or trying to make a deal with him. They barely cared that they were losing one of their daughters.

_I am not really their daughter. If this happened with Erica, it would be different_.

Mara went outside to the porch and sat for a little while. Finally, she allowed herself to cry.

* * *

She stopped weeping when an idea suddenly came to her. It seemed dumb at first, but was worth trying. Her fiancée probably had a few spies watching the house, or perhaps he himself was still nearby. He had just been here last night. 

She wiped her face and stood up, then walked around to the back of the house. When she reached the back of the fence, where she and Luke had talked, she waited for a moment. Nobody appeared - although he had shown up mysteriously, without making a sound.

Mara waited another second, then continued walking, into the forest.

After almost half-an-hour, she still did not see anyone. No hidden guards came to stop her from leaving. She sighed, giving up, and went back to the house.

* * *

Luke was in the living room, waiting for Mara. She knew she had locked the front door before leaving, but was not completely surprised that he knew the security code. She sat next to him on the couch, leaving a few feet of space between them. 

"Welcome back," he said, glancing at a holograph of her that was sitting on the table next to the couch. It had been taken a few weeks ago, on her seventeenth birthday. In the picture, she was sitting on the ground in the front yard, wearing a long-sleeved pink dress. Her firey hair flowed around her shoulders.

"I was looking for you, My Lord," she said. "I wanted to ask you something."

He did not sense any dishonesty in her reply. "What is it?"

Mara hesitated. "I was wondering why you are doing this - you cannot be completely thrilled about marrying someone you don't know at all."

"I have my reasons," Luke told her, surprised that she had the courage to question him. "Cooperate with me and you will be happy."

"Happy," she repeated sarcastically. She laughed briefly. It was a pretty sound, which Luke had not expected to hear.

She was about to ask, more politely, if he wanted a drink. Before she could, though, they heard the front door opening. They both stood to greet Erica, Shayne, and Rose. For a second, Mara felt a bit of adrenaline go through her veins, as if she and her husband-to-be were both the creepy bad guys. The thought almost made her smile.

"Your Highness," Rose said, after staring at him for a moment. Her skin looked at least two shades paler.

Terrified, Erica sat down in one of the armchairs, not wanting to look at Luke.

"W-We were not expecting you, My Lord," Rose added. "Please, s-sit down."

"We are leaving," he replied, resting his hand on Mara's shoulder. She looked up at him, smiling faintly.

"What?"

"She is not supposed to leave for another few days," said Shayne.

Luke ignored him and looked at Mara. "You should advise your parents to cooperate."

"They are _not_ my parents," she reminded him, in a bitter tone. "May we go?"

* * *

I probably won't update for another week or so, because I have three other current stories (Moonlight 5, Wherever You Go, and You And I 1: Just Us). I'll add the next few chapters when I update. I hope some of you like this so far.

Draven Star


	4. Chapter Four

I put the other Yours on hiatus for now. I'll update it when I have the next few chapters done. I haven't updated this one in a month, so re-read the first three chapters if you need to. 

**Chapter Four**

Mara Jade was a little relieved when she and Luke went to the passenger room at the back of his private shuttle. She had half-expected him to have her transported in a cage. Briefly, she wondered if she was going to stay in a cell until their wedding. But that seemed unlikely. She'd had plenty of time to run off while she was at home, and had not.

Sitting down on one of black leather couches, she asked, "Why did you decide to capture me? I don't think we have met each other before."

"I chose you," her fiancée said.

"Are you going to give clear, direct answers to any of my questions?"

"When I wish."

"I guess I don't have to answer anything you ask me, then. I don't want to talk to you at all."

"You spoke first," Luke said, sitting next to her.

She got up and went over to the other couch, and was quiet for the next half-hour. But then, the silence began to make her uncomfortable. She let out an intentionally heavy sigh.

"I have a boyfriend, you know," she said in a softer, more melancholy tone.

"You do not," Luke replied.

"How do you know if I do or not?"

"I sense your dishonesty. It is useless to lie to me."

Mara nodded, and did not say anything else until they reached Imperial City.

* * *

They did not stay there long; only to go to Luke's own ship, which had been a gift from his parents after he joined the Empire. He preferred it over the shuttle.

Mara was still in her silent, I'm-ignoring-you mood, but was starting to become bored with it again. She studied the ship's dashboard as she sat down in one of the pilot seats.

"This has back-up auto-pilot?" she asked, indicating a square-shaped yellow button.

"Yes," said Luke, a bit surprised that she had an interest in ships.

"Does it work as long as the regular auto-pilot?"

"Half as long, I would say."

Mara didn't reply, probably remembering she was trying to act hateful toward him.

* * *

I know this chapter was short; I'll have a better one on the next update. 


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

Mara Jade was could not complain when she saw Luke and Leia Skywalker's mansion. Once the gate closed behind them, she turned to ask her fiancée if their wedding was going to be here, but he had disappeared.

_Weirdo_, she thought. She almost said it aloud, but once again remembered how he had approached her behind her backyard fence the other evening, without her even hearing any footsteps. Perhaps he was still standing near her.

A lavish stone wall enclosed the back and front yards. A sandy path led to the mansion's front porch. There was an equally lovely mansion next door, but besides that, there were no other homes around.

There were several flowers, bushes, and small trees in the front yard. In one corner was a pond. Mara spotted a couple of trees that were near the wall, but neither were tall enough for her to climb up and escape.

She heard the gate open again, and turned around to see...

"Leia Skywalker," she said. "Your Highness, I mean."

"Hello. You must be my brother's fiancée."

"Yes," Mara replied. "Do you live here?"

"Not now. I decided to move next door," Leia answered. For now, she was not going to mention that her parents lived there.

"I don't know where Luke went. He was here just a second ago."

"He'll probably be back later this evening," Leia said. "I came over to show you around the house. Come on."

"Thank you," said Mara, following her.

* * *

Leia had gone shopping for her brother's fiancée - one of their agents found out what shoe and dress sizes she should get. Mara did not seem very surprised when she noticed that everything in the closet fit her.

Her and Luke's bedroom had a balcony, which had a nice view of the backyard and the forest in the distance. She glanced over at the neighbor's yard - Leia's new home - and noticed a brown-haired human girl sitting outside on the grass.

"Do you have a roommate?" she asked Leia.

"What? Oh, yes...two."

* * *

Leia left a few minutes later. While waiting for Luke, Mara went upstairs to their bedroom and took a long bath. Afterward, she went out to the back porch.

She sat down on one of the benches, feeling a bit lonely. Briefly, she thought about Rose, Shayne, and Erica. Perhaps they were taking a vacation or shopping with their five million credits. Mara wondered if they were really getting paid or not. She smiled.

"Are you still here?" Luke asked.

"Don't do that!" Mara snapped, standing up. She crossed her arms over her chest - the tan dress she was wearing had two thin straps, and was low-cut in the front.

"How are you doing that, anyway?" she added. "I didn't even hear you approaching me."

"I hid my presence."

"Oh."

"Have you met my sister?"

"Yes," answered Mara. She sat down on the bench again. "She's nice. Is she really related to you?"

Her fiancée sat next to her. She didn't move away.

"I can feel your emotions," he said. "You cannot hide your fear from me, or anything else."

Mara was quiet for a moment, but he knew that she was not ignoring him. She looked out at the backyard, staring at the forest, reminded of the woods behind her old house. Once again, she wished that she had at least tried to run away while she had the chance. She had not encountered any hiding guards or spies. Perhaps she could have escaped, and then Luke would have just found another girl to marry, instead of bothering to track her down. She doubted that he had any attachment to her.

"Why me?" she asked, mostly muttering to herself.

"You should appreciate me more, Mara," Luke told her. "You are going to be my wife - a princess."

"I don't see why I am so important to you."

"You are more than you realize. You will thank me," Luke assured her, although he was not going to explain the Force to her yet, or her Force-sensitivity.

He touched her shoulder, lightly, then stroked her arm once or twice. For a moment, she did not seem to mind it. He leaned in a little and kissed her cheek.

She looked at him for a second, and almost said something, but changed her mind. She stood up and went inside.

* * *

Mara quickly changed into one of her new nightgowns before Luke came into their bedroom.

"Can I sleep somewhere else?" she asked him.

"Stay. I am leaving."

"Cheating on me already?"

"I am going to see my father. Would you like to join me?" Luke asked.

"No," said Mara, more quietly. "I'll see you in the morning."

Once her fiancée left the room, she waited a few minutes, then went over to the single glass door that led out to the balcony. Looking at the neighbor's yard, she didn't see anyone outside After a moment, she realized that she had not heard Luke's ship taking off. Perhaps he was not going very far.

_Meaning that Darth Vader is not far away right now_, she thought. She shivered.

_No. He could be miles away. Luke probably took his speeder, which isn't loud enough for me to hear from here_.

She went back inside and closed the long, dark red curtains over the balcony door, then went to bed. She was asleep almost as soon as she closed her eyes.


	6. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

Leia followed Luke to the entrance hall of the house. As she hugged him, a memory of him and Han, disguised as Stormtroopers when they released her from her cell on the first Death Star, came to her mind. She did not giggle or smile, though.

"Why are you getting married?" she asked, letting go of Luke.

"To have a child to train," he replied. "You know."

"Yes, but is there any reason besides that?"

"What do you think?"

Leia shrugged. She took Luke's hand and kissed it. "Nevermind. Good night."

* * *

"Mara?"

"Leave me alone, Erica," Mara muttered irritably.

"It's me, Leia."

Mara opened her eyes. Leia was sitting on the edge of the bed. Looking around, she saw that Luke was not in the room. The blankets and pillows on the opposite side of the bed were still neat. She wondered if he had come home last night.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"It's fine," Leia replied. "Good morning."

"Is Luke here?"

"He left earlier. It's almost one-thirty. I came over to watch you."

"Oh. I'm not going to try and escape."

"I know," Leia said, sounding as if she believed her. "I just thought you might be lonely - and the wedding is going to be tomorrow."

"_Tomorrow_?" Mara asked, sitting up.

"Yes. Why don't you get dressed? I'll go down to kitchen."

"Alright."

* * *

While they were eating, Leia said, "Later, you can meet my parents."

Mara almost dropped the glass she was holding. "What?"

"They live next door. That's who my roommates are."

Mara sighed. She changed the subject. "So, are _you_ seeing anyone, Your Highness?"

"You can call me Leia," she replied. "And no, I'm not."

She did not feel like talking about Han. Part of her agreed with her father and Luke - if Han really loved her, he would have joined her and at least cooperated with them. But she did miss him. Whenever she thought of asking Darth Vader or Luke to have him captured, she changed her mind. The thought of him only staying with her because he was forced to was not very comforting.


	7. Chapter Seven

Author's note: I finally gave this story its own title. I know I have another story called Always At Your Side, but no one's reading that anyway. Thanks for the reviews I've gotten so far. 

**Chapter Seven**

After Leia left, Mara Jade went upstairs. She felt as if she had said something that bothered the princess, but did not worry about it very much. She was more concerned about the wedding.

Bored, she went out to the balcony. She glanced at the backyard next door, seeing Amidala and Leia sitting outside, tanning. Not wanting either of them to look over and possibly notice her, she went back inside.

She sat down on the edge of the bed and closed her eyes for a moment, briefly wondering where her fiancée was. Loneliness suddenly came over her. She wished someone were here, even him. A cool shiver went down her back, making goosebumps on her arms.

_I hate you_, she thought.

_I can see that our marriage will not be boring_, Luke replied.

"What..." Mara whispered aloud, startled. Her eyes opened. The coldness quickly faded away.

She got up and looked in the walk-in closet, and in each of the other rooms on the mansion's second floor, but nobody was in any of them.

"Why can't I be forced to marry Jabba the Hutt? At least _he's_ more attractive!" she shouted sarcastically, just to get a reaction.

There was no response, and she somehow knew that Luke, wherever he was, had not heard her. When his voice came into her mind just now, there had been some kind of connection between the two of them.

Not expecting him to be home anytime soon, she went back to the bedroom and changed into a white bikini, deciding to try out the indoor hot-tub downstairs.

* * *

Leia came over later that evening, with Amidala Vader. Mara was wearing a formal-looking, sleeveless light pink dress, with her hair flowing freely past her shoulders. She had wanted to look nice, since Leia had said that she might meet her fiancée's parents later.

"It's nice to finally meet you," Amidala said, shaking Mara's hand kindly. She was wearing a short, dark red dress, with black sandals. Around her neck was a thin chain with a silver heart, which had DV engraved in the center.

In an almost cold tone, she added, "Vader isn't here. He and Luke went somewhere. You can stop trembling."

"Yes, My Lady," Mara replied politely.

"I thought you should come over and eat with us," said Leia. "Luke probably won't be home tonight. You must be lonely."

"Thank you."

* * *

Leia and Mara waited outside on the front porch for a moment, while Amidala went inside to use the refresher.

Once she was out of sight, Mara commented, "I don't think that she likes me."

"Do you mean what she said about you trembling?" asked Leia.

Mara shrugged.

"She just misses my father. She doesn't like to be away from him for more than a minute."

"Oh."

Leia smiled. "You might start to feel that way about Luke."

"Don't bet on it."

* * *

"I've seen two of your plays," Amidala said as the three of them sat down in the dining room. "They were both great."

"Thank you, My Lady," Mara replied. She paused. "Where is the wedding going to be?"

Amidala smiled. "I'm sorry. I know that you don't want to be here."

"Not exactly."

"But Luke wants you, so I think we should try and become friends," Leia added. "You will be less miserable."

Amidala nodded.

"I understand," Mara said quietly.

* * *

The next morning, she met Leia outside the front gate of her and Luke's house. With her was a large speeder, with two Imperial officers sitting at each end, and ten or twelve Stormtroopers on speeder bikes.

"You look beautiful," Leia said as Mara sat next to her.

"Thank you," she said. She had chosen a low cut black dress, with long mesh sleeves.

For a moment, she wondered if Shayne, Rose, and Erica might be at the wedding, but that seemed unlikely. Despite how angry she was with them, she almost wished that they were here. Then she forced back a giggle, thinking of Shayne and Rose meeting Darth Vader.

After half-an-hour or so, they stopped at the edge of a patch of woods. No one else was around. Confused, Mara looked at Leia as the two of them got out of the speeder.

"Come on," she said. To the officers and Stormtroopers, she added, "Leave us."

* * *

Once they were alone, Mara followed Leia. There was a dirt path leading through the trees. Not far ahead was a small stone building.

On the side of the building was an open archway. The first small room they went into was empty. The next room was larger. Everyone was inside. Mara barely glanced at Darth Vader, but felt his and Luke's cold blue eyes watching her. Still, she tried not to look nervous.

The minister was a Twi'lek man, who also seemed to be trying not to show his fear. Leia gave Mara a brief, faint smile, then went and stood next to her parents.

Most of what the minister said was in Huttese, but he repeated a couple of lines in Basic. Mara avoided Luke's eyes, until he was told that he could kiss his bride. She hesitated for a second, but returned the kiss, not wanting to look foolish.

The minister said something else in Huttese, then quickly disappeared into one of the back rooms.

Once Vader, Amidala, and Leia left, Mara followed Luke to his speeder. She was quiet as they returned to house.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight**

Mara went upstairs when they arrived at the house. She guessed that Luke went somewhere, which did not surprise her. He did join her until later, when it was almost dark outside.

She was standing outside on the balcony. He waited before walking over to her, staring at her for a second. The light from the full moon almost made her hair glow. Her cheeks were dry; she probably hadn't been crying.

"Hello," she said. She was about to ask where he had been, but didn't want him to think that she cared.

"I hope you did not miss me terribly," he replied.

He touched her shoulder. She quickly jerked away, as if a snake were trying to slither onto her arm.

"How did you talk to me earlier? Is that another one of your powers?" she asked.

"Yes, though you cannot mentally speak with everyone."

"Only some?"

"Yes."

"Why were you able to speak with me, then?"

"I will explain that later," answered Luke, touching Mara's shoulder again. She could not move away any further; her back was almost brushing against the balcony's railing. He leaned down a little and kissed her cheek, then her mouth.

She was quiet. He let her move past him and go inside.

* * *

Mara put on one of her nightgowns and went to bed. When Luke joined her, she closed her eyes, even though he probably knew that she was not asleep. He moved closer to her and kissed her shoulder. She ignored it.

"You are mine. Accept it," he whispered, sliding his arm around her.

She opened her eyes, but didn't turn to face him. "Why do you care about having me with you? Nevermind, don't even listen to that. You aren't going to give me an answer."

Luke moved one of her nightgown's straps off her shoulder, and started to kiss her again.

"If you choose not to resist me, you will enjoy being by my side," he told her.

* * *

Leia came over the next evening. Mara was happy to see her. She liked her already, and did want to be on her good side, as well as Amidala's.

"Don't wear that one. You'll look too friendly," Leia said, looking at the dress that her sister-in-law was holding. It was white, printed with flowers and butterflies.

"I am Luke's wife. That should make me scary enough," she replied.

The two girls were about to go to the Naboo Imperial base, and take a shuttle to Imperial City. A party was being held at a new theater that had just opened, and then a play that Mara had wanted to star in.

"Why does Luke want to go?" she asked as she picked out a dark purple dress.

"You're a princess now. You need to expose yourself a little."

"I guess so. Are your parents coming?"

"No." Leia smiled faintly. "Would you like to know something?"

"What?" Mara asked.

"My mother didn't want to marry Darth Vader..."

"Not wanting to marry Darth Vader isn't very surprising."

"He saw her one day, while she and her parents were visiting Imperial City, and wanted her," Leia continued, "so he forced her to marry him. She fell in love with him within a month."

Without replying at first, Mara went inside the closet and changed into the dress.

"Oh," she said simply when she came out, putting on a pair of black shoes. She changed the subject. "Have you met anyone yet?"

"No," Leia answered quietly, sounding a bit sad now. "Let's go."


	9. Chapter Nine

Sorry that this chapter is short, but I needed to update. I'll have a better one on the next update. 

**Chapter Nine**

"You look great," Leia complimented as she and Mara sat down inside the shuttle.

Two glasses of blue-green juice were sitting on the table between the two couches. Mara picked one up and sipped it.

"Thank you. So do you," she replied quietly.

Leia picked up the other glass. "My adopted parents had a big, fancy party for me, for my sixteenth birthday. I only knew a few people there. I didn't have a lot of friends."

"Speaking of them," Mara said, "why did the Organas adopt you?"

"When Luke and I were a few months old, our parents decided to hide us until we were teenagers, so that the Emperor wouldn't find out about us. My mother convinced the Organas to take me."

"What about Luke?"

"Our aunt and uncle raised him, but he - and I - love our real parents more."

Mara nodded. "Luke seems protective of you."

"He and Daddy barely allow any men to look at me."

* * *

Luke met them at one of the bases on Imperial City. Mara was relieved when Leia said that she didn't feel like going to the theater, but only for a second. Her sister-in-law decided to stay at the base with Darth Vader and Amidala.

Mara and Luke returned to Naboo. At first, Mara was quiet during most of the ride, more out of loneliness than ignoring her husband. When the silence became boring, she asked a couple of questions about a control or button on the ship's dashboard. Luke did not sound annoyed as he talked with her.

* * *

Later, while she was cooking, Mara thought of something.

"Luke," she asked, "is something wrong with Leia?"

"Why do you ask?"

Mara shrugged. "I think she's sad...I feel it. Did someone hurt her?"

"Her last boyfriend betrayed her," Luke answered, noting that his wife was starting to sense feelings and moods.

"What happened?"

"He did not join the Empire."

"I can't blame him," Mara replied. "But I suppose he should have, if he wanted to be with her."

"That is true," Luke said.

"Don't find someone and force them to marry her, though. It's irritating when people do that."


	10. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten**

Two days later, Luke and Mara went to a pod race on Tattooine. They had one of the expensive, air-conditioned box seats. Mara actually enjoyed herself most of the time. When she was fifteen, she was the only person in her science class that didn't go on a field trip to Tatooine. Shayne and Rose wouldn't let her.

Mara had been cooperating with Luke well. Whenever Rose, Shayne, or Erica saw a picture of her and her husband in a magazine, she wanted them to see her looking happy, as if she had no wish to escape.

While the contestants were getting their pod racers warmed up, Mara decided to go to the refresher. It was across the hall, near the entrance of their box, so Luke allowed her to go by herself.

Mara barely overheard someone say, "Come on, Han. She's probably moved on by now. Do you really think she cares at all?"

"I don't know, Lando," Han muttered.

"Well, I'll meet you later," his friend replied. He went into one of the other box rooms.

Once Mara returned to the small, white leather couch again, next to Luke, he suddenly kissed her cheek. She looked at him for a second, not feeling as disgusted as she usually did when he touched her. She sat up so that he could kiss her mouth.

One of the race's announcers said something about two of the contestants quarreling with each other.

"Will you tell me at least one reason why you wanted to get married?" Mara asked.

"I want to have a child to train," Luke answered. He had explained the Force to her the other day, but had not mentioned that she herself was Force-strong.

"Oh," she said quietly, sounding as if she hadwanted to hear something more.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Chapter Eleven**

The next evening, Luke and Mara were on Imperial City, walking through a park in one of the upper-class, richer parts of the city. Mara saw Erica there, with three of her friends. They walked right by, nearly brushing Mara's shoulder, without even looking at her or Luke. She was about to say something, then realized that Luke must be concealing them.

"Rose and Shayne are probably around here. They wouldn't let Erica and her friends go out by themselves," she told him, trying to sound as if she did not really care. "Are we going back to Naboo tonight?"

"Yes," answered Luke. "I am leaving tomorrow. I will be away for a week."

"A week? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I did not know you would be so concerned."

"Well...you're right, I'm not," Mara retorted. She glanced at a large, grey-painted pot, which held a few flowering bushes.

Shayne, Rose, and another couple - Mara recognized as the parents of one of Erica's friends - appeared. Mara pretended to ignore them. She raised Luke's hand to her lips and kissed it, acting as if he were the center of her attention.

Then, she remembered that he was hiding their presences. Rose and Shayne hadn't seen them.

She expected Luke to tease her, but he slid his arm inside hers again, and they continued walking.

* * *

Later, while they were in bed, Luke moved closer to Mara and kissed her neck, to see if she was asleep yet.

"Ugh," she said softly. She shifted a bit so that she could face him. "Don't you want me to go with you? You probably think that I'll try to escape."

"You are not stupid," he replied. He kissed her cheek, then moved down to her shoulder. He started to pull her closer, but she snuggled next to him on her own.

"I'm just cold," she said quickly.

"You make yourself miserable, Mara." Luke kissed her mouth lightly. "You should try to appreciate me."

* * *

Mara was alone when she opened her eyes the next morning. When she went downstairs, she did not find Luke anywhere. She sighed. He could have at least woken her up before he left, especially when he was going to be away for a week.

_Why do I care? I don't have to see him for a whole week_.

She heard the front door open.

"Mara?" Amidala Vader called.

Mara hesitated, then went to greet her mother-in-law. She was relieved when she saw that Darth Vader had not come.

"Good morning, My Lady," she said.

"Good morning. I'm sorry to surprise you," Amidala replied. "Vader won't be back until later, and I am lonely, so I was going to ask if you wanted to come over and have tea."

"Why don't I make it?" Mara offered.

"Alright."

"Is Leia here?"

"No. She's still asleep," answered Amidala, following Mara to the kitchen.

She looked at her daughter-in-law for a moment, knowing exactly how the girl felt. When the Naberries were informed that Darth Vader wanted their daughter, Amidala had considered running away. But she quickly changed her mind, knowing that it was probably useless, and she did not want her parents to get into trouble for allowing her to escape.

Vader had married her for mostly the same reason that Luke had decided to pick a wife - he wanted a daughter or son to train. After the wedding, though, he took Amidala almost everywhere with him. She actually enjoyed it, and started to wonder if he liked having a companion.

"Leia told you about how Vader found me," she said.

"Yes," Mara replied as she starting heating a pot of water. "I was wondering something."

"Ask."

"Don't you want Leia to choose someone? I'm sure that plenty of men would like to be forced into marrying her."

Amidala laughed. "I agree with you."

* * *

Mara became less uneasy around her mother-in-law. After she left, Leia came over for most of the day. They watched a few holomovies and relaxed in the hot-tub. Mara thought about Luke. She didn't miss him, but they had been together constantly during the past few days. She was used to being around him. Why couldn't he take her with him? She was surprised that he would leave her alone for a week.

As soon as she got into bed, she closed her eyes and tried to mentally call him. Either she couldn't do it right, or he did not feel like responding. She lay awake for almost an hour, then fell asleep.


	12. Chapter Twelve

Author's note: I haven't stopped updating Yours; I'm just more into this story right now. Just letting you know. 

**Chapter Twelve**

The sun was setting when Luke Skywalker arrived on Dantooine. Since he had taken his own ship, he landed far from the nearest city. He preferred staying in the ship rather than having one of his agents secure a hotel. The men at the new Imperial base here did not know he was visiting them. Darth Vader thought it was good to suprise them sometimes.

Luke went to the ship's small bedroom. He took off his shirt and sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, briefly considering sending for Mara tomorrow, but he changed his mind. He could have brought her along with him, but he wanted to see how she felt when he returned home. He knew that she was becoming used to him.

After seeing the picture of Mara, on the back of the magazine that Leia was looking at, Luke had dreamed about her that night, and the night after that. He had not mentioned that to anyone, though, not even Vader.

Luke had only had one or two girlfriends, and a few dates, before leaving Tattooine with Obi-Wan and joining the Rebellion. Most of the girls he met seemed uncomfortable around him. Krystah, a Falleen girl that he had secretly adored, stayed with him for almost a month before nervously telling him that she liked someone else. Even though he didn't know anything about his Force sensitivity then, Luke was certain that she was lying. He was angry, but didn't say anything to her.

_"Learn to control anger, a Jedi must," Yoda said._

_Luke paused before trying to mentally lift one of the stones again._

_"But anger can help sometimes, can't it?" he replied. "Your anger can make you more aggressive in a fight..."_

_"It helps not," Yoda interrupted. "Feel compassion, you must, for your opponent."_

_"But you have to defeat them..."_

_"Clear your mind. No more questions today."_

Luke almost smiled. Yoda had often said that whenever his pupil made said something that he didn't feel like arguing about. Luke never asked him to tell any stories about Anakin; he had not wanted to hear Yoda criticize his father.

Now, though, Anakin Skywalker did not interest Luke. Obi-Wan had not been completely honest when he said that Anakin was Luke's father. His father was Darth Vader - Vader had forced Amidala to marry him. Luke called himself Skywalker just to avoid the confusion of having two men addressed as Lord Vader.

A few minutes later, he stretched out and fell asleep.

* * *

When Leia came over, the next morning, she brought a present that Mara found a bit surprising - a new comlink.

"Thank you," she said. "I can have a comlink?"

"Sure. We can find out if you call anyone that you shouldn't," Leia replied.

Mara nodded quietly and started to fill two glasses with juice. After eating breakfast, Leia couldn't stay very long. She was going to the base with Amidala and Vader. She invited Mara to go with them, but Mara politely refused.

* * *

Luke returned four days later. Mara did not act joyous, but she was a bit relieved. She had been lonely - not because she liked him, just because she was used to having to follow him around. It was interesting sometimes, and since she was Luke's wife, she did need to become familiar with all of the Star Destroyers and bases and the rest of the Imperial scene.

"How did everything go?" she asked, following him outside to the back porch. "Did you find anyone that you like more than me?"

"You must have been worried," Luke replied.

Mara did not reply at first. She started to go over to one of the benches, but then glanced at the stains on Luke's sleeveless white shirt. They appeared to be dirt, or oil. He had probably been working on the ship or something. She wished again that he had brought her along.

She noticed one or two minor cuts on his real hand. She went inside to the kitchen and got a cloth, wetted it, then returned to the back porch.

"Here," she said, taking his hand. She wiped it. When she tried to move away, he quickly slid his arm around her and held her back.

"I am leaving again," he said. "You are coming with me."

Mara nodded. Luke felt the small bit of happiness in her. He released her and let her go inside.

* * *

On the way to Dantooine, Mara tried making more conversation than usual, mainly talking about the ship or podracing. Luke did not mention that he had just been to Dantooine, and had only gone back to Naboo to get his wife.

They stayed at the new base for an hour or so, before going to Tattooine. It was evening when they landed a few miles away from Mos Espa. Luke usually stayed away from the Mos Eisley area, although he did not think about his old life there, especially now that Mara was with him. He was too busy watching her.

Mara was tired. She went back to the ship's bedroom, and was already asleep when Luke joined her.

* * *

They went to a pod race the next morning. As they entered the private section, where the box seats were, Mara noticed a brown-haired human man that looked a bit familiar. She then remembered seeing him here last time...Han. His friend Lando had been lecturing him about forgetting a girl.

_Leia can probably understand how he feels_, Mara thought.

That gave her an idea. She started to tell her husband, but Han went inside one of the other box seat rooms before Luke could notice him. Mara didn't say anything.

She sat next to her husband on the couch, briefly glancing at the table of drinks in front of them. Next to the drinks was a vase of dark pink flowers.

One of the flowers suddenly began to move. It slowly came out of the vase and floated toward Mara. She took it and looked at Luke.

"I wish I was Force-strong," she said, without any sarcasm in her voice.

"You are," Luke replied.

"What?" His wife put the flower back into the vase. "Is that why you chose me?"

"I do not need to have a Force-strong wife. I would have chosen you if you were not," he answered.

Mara nodded and became quiet. She looked at the viewing screens, which each showed different portions of the racing track. Luke stroked her hair once or twice. She pretended to ignore him, and commented about how bad she thought one of the racers was.

Later, as they left, she briefly saw Han. Thinking of Leia again, she considered asking Luke if one of their agents could find out more about the man.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Chapter Thirteen**

The next afternoon, Mara went next door to have lunch with Amidala and Leia.

After she and Luke came home, late last night, she went to bed without saying anything to him. She knew he had picked up on all of her feelings yesterday. She didn't deny that she had been happy when he came home early and took her to Dantooine with him.

"Hello," Amidala greeted her daughter-in-law, letting her inside.

"Hello," Mara replied quietly.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You must have missed Luke while he was on Dantooine. I am glad he came home to get you," Amidala said. "I couldn't stand being away from Vader for four days."

"I was just bored. I don't think that's exactly the same as missing him," Mara said. Luke had not mentioned that he had already been on Dantooine before coming home.

_He probably had some other reason. I doubt he returned just to get me_.

Amidala smiled at her. "You hate him, don't you?"

"Amidala, I don't think I can talk about hating your son without making you angry..."

"I just want to remind you that I know what you are going through." Amidala sat down in one of the living room's black armchairs. "Don't bother acting defensive around him, Mara. Luke senses all of your feelings and moods."

"I know," Mara replied. "He told me that I am Force-sensitive."

"Daddy mentioned that," Leia said as she came out of the kitchen. "The food's ready."

* * *

Mara stayed at Amidala's house until Vader and Luke returned that evening.

As the two of them started walking back to their house, Luke told Mara that he wanted to take her somewhere. She did not bother asking where; it was doubtful that she would get an answer if she did.

Luke wanted to take his speeder bike, so his wife had to sit behind him, with her arms around his waist. She almost made a joke about being disgusted with having to touch him, but decided not to ruin his mostly good mood.

They rode through the woods for more than half-an-hour. Luke liked having Mara with him. She did not whine about the speed as soon as the bike began moving, as Krystah had often done. Finally, she asked if she could pilot it. Luke let her, and noticed how experienced she was. He barely had to show her anything.

On the way back to the house, Mara remembered Han.

* * *

"Luke," she said, while they were eating dinner, "could you get one of our agents to follow someone?"

"Who?"

"Someone I saw at the pod race the other day - he was at the race we went to before that, too."

"Why?" Luke asked. There was a touch of jealous concern in his voice.

"I overheard him talking to one of his friends, and he doesn't have a girlfriend. It made me think about Leia."

"You want to consider having my sister set up with someone you've seen once or twice?"

"Not him, I guess, but someone." Mara shrugged. "Forget I said it. It's a stupid idea - and I would hate for her to be forced to marry, like me."

"You seem to be less disgusted with me lately," Luke said.

Mara was quiet for a second. "I am just trying to cooperate with you."

"Good. You will be happier if you do."


	14. Chapter Fourteen

thefragile7393: Thanks for your review. About Vader being mean in some of my other stories...keep in mind that some of them are AUs, so in those, he hasn't known Padmé before and hasn't been in love with her for years. Therefore, he isn't going to be completely nice and loving at once. Just thought I'd explain that a little. 

**Author's note**: You And I 3 is on hiatus for now, just because I'm mostly enjoying this story and Always At Your Side, and I'd like to work on two stories for a bit, instead of three or four at once. Just letting you know. I know it's a little confusing because they both have similar names.

**Chapter Fourteen**

The next few days were some of the more dull ones - Luke Skywalker left almost every morning, without saying anything to his wife, and returned late at night, when she was already asleep. She did not pester him about it, though, since she did not feel well for a couple of days.

One night, rain and faint thunder woke her. She ignored it, and almost fell asleep again, but then noticed that Luke was not lying next to her. That was a little strange. He often left early in the morning, without waking her up, but not during the night.

Since she was awake now anyway, Mara got up and looked through the glass door of the balcony. Her husband was not there. She sighed and left the bedroom.

Luke was not in any of the other upstairs rooms, nor anywhere downstairs. Mara went into the kitchen. She might as well wait and see if he was coming home tonight. Perhaps he was going to be away for a few days and had decided not to tell her, although Leia and Amidala had not said anything about him going somewhere.

She made hot tea and sat on the couch in the living room, flipping through the channels on the viewing screen. She stopped when she saw a jewelry commercial, in which a Falleen man was a giving a ring to his girlfriend.

Mara glanced down at her silver wedding ring, briefly touching the large diamond on it. She suddenly realized that she and Luke had been married for exactly two weeks today. It felt more like two lonely months.

That was not completely honest, though. Mara did not feel dreary at all when she and Luke went places, such as the pod races where she had noticed Han, and when they had ridden around on his speeder bike a few days ago.

She turned off the viewing screen, unable to find anything that interested her. She got up and went over to the window, and peeked through the curtains. In the spots of moonlight, she did not see anybody. Something dark and small, most likely a bat, flew past the window, but it did not really startle Mara. She sighed and went back to the couch.

* * *

"Were you ever distracted?" Luke asked Darth Vader. 

The two of them were standing outside, underneath a tree. The thick branches and leaves, along with both of the Sith Lords' hooded cloaks, kept the rain from soaking either of them. Luke had awoken during the night, and since it was already after four o' clock in the morning, he did not bother going back to bed. He ran into Vader outside, in front of the house's gate.

"What do you mean?" his father replied.

"'Distracted' as in...wanting to bend one of the Jedi rules," Luke answered.

This was an unusual conversation for them - neither of them spoke often about their old lives as Jedi, even to each other. But Vader did not mind when his son asked him a question about his past, especially since Luke was still a somewhat new Sith.

"Yes," Vader said. "I saw Amidala several times, not long before I left the Jedi. Both of her parents were senators. Her mother wanted to run for queen, on Naboo."

"You make it sound as if Mother was not happy."

"Her parents were pushing her to become a politician, but she was not interested in it."

"She told you that?" Luke asked.

"Yes." There was a trace of mischief in Vader's eyes. "I also followed her around often, without her knowing."

"Did Obi-Wan know?"

"I do not think so. I did not care what he thought." Vader changed the subject. "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Luke said, knowing what he was talking about. Mara was pregnant. Vader and Luke had already started to feel the new Force-sensitive presence, even though Mara was less than two weeks along. Neither of them had said anything about it to her, Leia, and Amidala, though.

A few minutes later, they both went back to their houses.

* * *

Luke found his wife waiting for him in the living room. 

"Where were you?" she asked him quietly, sounding as if she had not gotten much sleep.

"I had to meet someone," he answered, sitting next to her.

"Why? It isn't five o' clock yet."

"Nothing you should be bothered with," Luke said, curious about how Mara would react to that reply.

She hesitated. "If it's not anything important, couldn't you have taken me?"

"I was talking with my father," Luke told her finally.

"Oh. Will you be home today?"

"Yes. We are going to Imperial City next week."

Mara nodded. "Alright. I'm going back to bed."

"I apologize for worrying you," Luke said.

"I didn't miss you. I was just wondering where you went, and I couldn't get back to sleep anyway."

Luke sensed the dishonesty in the first sentence, but he let her go upstairs without teasing her anymore.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

thefragile7393: No, I didn't think you were critcizing me. 

Sorry that this chapter is short, next one will be longer.

**Chapter Fifteen**

Later that morning, while Mara was sitting on one of the benches on the back porch, brushing her hair, Luke told her that she was pregnant. He had expected her to be bitter, but instead, she set the brush down beside her and started crying softly.

"Congratulations," she said.

Luke could not tell if she was being sarcastic or not. He sat next to her and rubbed her back once or twice. She seemed a little surprised by his gentleness, but didn't try to move away.

"Why did you have to ruin my life?" she asked, in a more prissy tone this time. She did not expect an answer from him.

"You want to marry and have a family," Luke replied, remembering that from a short interview Mara had done about one of her plays last year. He had read it while looking through the information that his agents found.

"Do you think that being kidnapped by you was what I dreamed about?" Mara asked him.

He kissed the top of her head, then stood up. "I cannot wait for you to come to your senses."

* * *

"I don't mean to upset you, but he is right," Leia said. She took a bite of her fruit salad.

She, Mara, and Amidala were eating lunch together while Darth Vader and Luke were next door, working on a speeder. Amidala and Leia had both been excited when they heard that Mara was pregnant. For a moment, Mara had wondered if either of them could understand that she was upset - especially Amidala, who had also been captured and forced into marrying.

"What do you mean?" Mara asked.

"He probably meant that you aren't trying to see some of the positive things about this situation," Leia replied.

"If you were captured..."

"Mara," Amidala interrupted, "I was as unhappy as you are, at first. But look at everything Vader did for me. I never thought that I could be an empress - or, much more importantly, have wonderful twins. My parents were going to make me go to boring academies and have political training."

Mara nodded, understanding her mother-in-law's point. She started to say that she was different, because she had been happy with her life before Luke took her, but that was not completely true. She had always felt left out around her adopted parents and Erica.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Chapter Sixteen**

The next morning, Amidala came over with Darth Vader. While he and Luke were outside, she went inside to see Mara. Luke had decided to go to Imperial City earlier than he had told his wife.

"I'll miss you," Amidala said as she hugged her daughter-in-law. "You can call me or Leia whenever you need."

"Thanks, but..." Mara paused. "What do you mean?"

"You are going to be away for a whole month."

"A _month_? Luke didn't tell me that."

Amidala smiled. "Well, this will be a good opportunity for you to become closer with him."

Mara did not feel a spark of optimism. She let out a miserable sigh, feeling almost as bad as she had when Shayne and Rose first told her that she was getting married. How could she be alone with Luke for an entire month, especially without having Amidala and Leia around?

"Try to enjoy it," her mother-in-law said, giving her another hug. "By the time you return, I bet that you will be completely attached to him."

Mara just made a faint smile that Amidala knew was fake.

* * *

She felt much better when Luke let her get the ship ready for take-off. She had watched him enough to become familiar with most of the controls on the dashboard.

As the ship was leaving Naboo, Mara went to the back of the ship to get away from her husband. After less than half-an-hour, though, she admitted that she was not really tired, and re-joined Luke in the cockpit.

"Why are you putting it on autopilot?" she asked. "Aren't we going into hyperspace?"

"Not yet," Luke answered, sitting down. "Come here."

Mara went and sat in his lap, without hesitating. She actually wanted to, and the fact that he could sense the feeling suddenly made her a bit embarassed. It briefly reminded her of a Zabrak boy in her theater class that she had liked, when she was fourteen. He noticed her staring at him one day, and since then, he sat at least five rows away from her whenever their class was practicing in the stage room. That had made her want to move to another planet. But the feeling she had around Luke was more serious.

"Good," he said, stroking her arm. "You want to be with me. I feel it."

She remained quiet.

"I dreamed about you after I first noticed you, for several nights," Luke added.

"I wish I could sense if you are lying or not," Mara replied. "Can I please go?"

Luke allowed her to get up, and watched her return to the back of the ship.

* * *

The ship landed sooner than it usually did when they were going Imperial City. Shivering, Mara looked in room's small closet - her sister-in-law had also stocked this one for her - and found a long-sleeved black shirt. She put it on and went to the cockpit.

"Where are we?" she asked Luke.

"Tattooine," he said, sliding his arms around her waist.

"Are we really going to Imperial City?" she asked, hugging him. He knew that she wanted to, so there was not much point in pretending that she was disgusted.

"Not yet," he answered. "I want to be alone with you before I have to baby-sit everyone at the base."

Mara laughed. "I keep forgetting the name of the admiral...I once heard another officer saying you were mad at him."

"Tarryns?"

"Yes."

They went to a pod race. Mara looked around, but did not spot Han Solo anywhere. She could have asked one of the Imperial guards here to see if anyone named Han had gotten a ticket, but Luke probably would not like it.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

I get a lot of reviews when my chapters are too short! Thanks for reading. 

**Chapter Seventeen**

It was dark by the time Luke and Mara returned to the ship. Rather than going inside, they continued walking. Not far away was a small, shallow canyon.

Mara sat down on a large rock and looked at the stars, seeing how lovely the desert could be. On the other side of the canyon, she could see a few lights in the distance, probably a small neighborhood. Luke looked at them for a second before sitting next to Mara.

"Did you live around here?" she asked.

"No," said Luke. Mara tried leaning against him, and he slid his arm around her.

"What are you going to do with me after the baby is born?"

"What do you mean?"

"I thought you might want to get rid of me." Mara glanced at three banthas that were on the other side of the canyon. One grunted at her and Luke, then ignored them.

"No, I do not," Luke replied. "Come on."

He stood up and took Mara's hand, and they returned to the ship.

* * *

Mara was tired, but did not ask Luke if he was. She somehow felt that he wasn't, and when Amidala spoke to her earlier, she _knew_ that her mother-in-law was a bit annoyed with her, though she had not showed it at all.

Mara decided to talk to Luke about it later. While she lay awake, she thought of a few baby names, then realized that that was pointless, since Luke probably wouldn't let her decide.

She was almost asleep when he came to bed. He roughly pulled her close. She knew that he was not in a good mood, and started to ask why, but changed her mind and left him alone.

* * *

The next morning, they had breakfast together. One of their agents had reserved an entire restaurant in Mos Espa for them. The place was closed to the public for the day, and no one seemed to know that the prince and princess were here. Luke disguised himself and Mara when they were walking around.

They returned to the ship and left Tattooine. Mara told her husband about the moods that she thought she was feeling, and he talked with her about the Force for a bit, before she felt tired. She went back to the bedroom and took a nap.

Luke came and woke her when they were approaching Imperial City.

As they entered the base, Mara overheard an officer murmur, "Good, he's in a better mood whenever she's here."

She glanced at Luke, but he didn't seem to have heard.

* * *

She stayed next him while they were at the base, instead of staying inside their private quarters. Luke knew that some of the officers liked to glance at her whenever they thought he was not paying attention, but his wife also made them a bit uneasy. They probably thought she was not much friendlier than him.

Luke was pleased that she was starting to enjoy being with him. Once, while they were inside their quarters, he briefly rubbed her stomach. She smiled at him.

After leaving the base, they went to the ship. Luke preferred staying in there, even though they could have a lavish hotel room or an entire floor reserved for them. When he began kissing Mara, she moved closer without him having to pull her into his arms.

* * *

Two days later, when Darth Vader, Amidala, and Leia came to the base, Mara noticed something. She mostly sensed feelings in Leia, Amidala, and Luke, but not her father-in-law.

She asked Luke about it that night, while she was changing into her nightgown. He said it was because of her close relationship with Amidala and Leia.

_And my close relationship with you?_ she thought. But she didn't ask that out loud.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

thefragile7393: Sometimes my chapters are a bit short because I want to update with something every two or three days, instead of going a week or two between updates. 

**Chapter Eighteen**

A few days later, as Luke was leaving the Imperial base on Dantooine, he paused when he thought he saw Mara out of the corner of his eye. She was supposed to be in the ship; she had not wanted to go to the base. When he looked at the human girl he saw, though, he noticed that her hair was shorter; it stopped just past her shoulders. But she was just as Force-sensitive as Luke's wife. Since he was hiding his presence, he went over her and the two Falleen women she was with.

Once he was closer, he saw that she was actually older, probably in her middle or late thirties. She was beautiful, though. Her eyes were blue, not green, but she certainly looked like she was related to Mara.

Luke waited a moment, but neither of the woman's friends said her name, so he left.

* * *

When he returned to the ship, he did not mention anything to Mara. It was dark now, and she seemed to be wondering why he had come back so late. They usually left the base around early evening.

"You're finally back," she said quietly as she sat down in one of the cockpit's seats, sounding more worried than irritated. "Leia called me earlier. Han Solo was captured."

"Good." Luke touched his wife's hair, thinking of the woman he had seen.

"She went into his cell and talked him into joining you," Mara continued. She paused. "I mean, joining us."

She wondered if Han had been following her and Luke when she saw him at two podraces. That seemed unlikely, since she doubted that anyone could easily spy on her and Luke. She started to tell her husband that Han was the man she had seen, but changed her mind.

* * *

They saw Shayne and Rose later, when they were walking around the nearby city. Of course, Luke was concealing them, so Mara's adopted parents did not notice. Mara was holding onto her husband's arm before she even noticed Rose coming out of a gift shop. Before, she had only done that so she would not get separated from Luke; now she actually liked it.

Rose walked right in front of her - without seeing her and her husband, of course - followed by Shayne. Mara just glanced at them, then continued talking to Luke.

* * *

They returned to Naboo after two weeks, since Han and Leia were getting married.

The ceremony was at the same place as Mara and Luke's had been, and was as simple. The big difference, Mara noticed, was that her sister-in-law actually wanted to be marrying Han. He was happy as well. Perhaps he had even turned himself over to the Imperials.

"Luke," Mara said as they were riding back to the house, "I want to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"I want to tell Shayne, Rose, and Erica that we are having a baby."

"No," Luke said.

"Why not? They're going to read about it as soon as our agents tell the press. I can't tell them myself?"

"I thought you did not think of them as your family."

Mara shrugged. "But we could at least let them know. Could we send an officer or someone?"

Luke glanced at her. "I have already done that."

"Oh. Thank you."


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Chapter Nineteen**

Luke had lied - he had not sent Shayne and Rose any notice about Mara's pregnancy, but he wanted her to stop worrying about it. She did pretend to ignore her adopted parents whenever she and Luke saw them, but he was still trying to win her over, and did not want any longing for her old life to get in the way.

One afternoon, a few days after Han and Leia's wedding, the newlyweds and Amidala came over to stay with Mara while Luke and Vader were on Imperial City. As she let them inside the house, Han looked at her for a moment.

"Hey," he said, "you're that girl who..."

"What?" Amidala asked.

"Maybe you've seen one of my plays," Mara said, though she doubted that Han often went to fancy theaters under his free will.

"Oh, yeah," he said. "That's it."

Leia smirked, but her husband's answer seemed to make her a bit suspicious.

Mara was quiet for much of the afternoon, mostly listening to the others talk. She could not wait for Luke to come home, maybe they would take the speeder bike into the woods and ride around. He had left earlier that morning, and for once, he woke her up and let her know that he would be back later.

* * *

She was sitting outside on the balcony, talking to Leia on her comlink, when Luke returned. She said good-night and turned the comlink off.

"Hi," she said as she hugged him. "Have you and Han seen me somewhere before?"

He grabbed her shoulders for a moment, almost painfully, but calmly asked, "Why?"

"Nothing," she said. "Earlier, he just...it seemed like he had seen me somewhere before - other than being the princess."

She thought that he could have seen her at one of the pod races where she had spotted him, but doubted it, and she still did not want to tell Luke about noticing him before.

"I do not know."

"Maybe he's seen one of my plays," Mara said, sounding as if she was not convinced.

"Perhaps." He let go of her, probably knowing that she did not believe him, but not caring.

She turned and went inside. He didn't follow her. She guessed that he wanted to meditate, so she did not bother him. She changed into her nightgown and went to bed.

* * *

The next afternoon, while Vader and Luke were in the garage, Mara waited for an opportunity to talk to Han alone. He was probably a little bored with listening to her, Leia, and Amidala talk, but seemed to like that more than hanging out with his father-in-law and Luke.

Mara did not get a chance to question him, since he stayed next to Leia. But she had more luck later that evening, when she called her sister-in-law. Han answered her comlink.

"Leia's changing," he said. "She'll be here in a second."

"That's fine," Mara replied. "I want to ask you something."

"Sure - I mean, yes, Your Highness."

"You can just call me Mara. What were you talking about yesterday? Have we met each other before?"

"No," Han answered. "I told you that I've seen one of your plays."

"I don't believe you. I guess I'll have to ask Luke if he can find out." Mara looked through one of her jewelry boxes and picked out a simple silver chain that had a single small diamond. She and Luke were going to Imperial City tomorrow, and she wanted to take a couple of fancy outfits along.

"Fine," Han said. "But don't tell him."

"I will if I want."

"Please?"

"Fine," Mara said, more nicely.

"It was a while ago, before he...changed, you know? So he won't want to talk about it anyway."

"Alright."

Han hesitated. "He and Leia and I, and our friends, were at a restaurant on Tatooine. You were leaving just as we went inside. You probably didn't notice us."

"No," Mara replied quietly. "Is that it?"

"Well, Luke stared at you for a moment until you left. Maybe you just stood out to him because you're Force-strong."

"Maybe."

"Leia's here now," Han said. "Wanna talk to her?"

"No. I'm tired. Tell her that I said good-night."

---------------------------

**Author's note**: This chapter was short because the next one is going to have a small "(however many) weeks/months later...", and I think it's confusing to have those in the middle of a chapter. No, I'm _not_ going to fast foward to a scene withMara going into labor. I know it's boring when people do that with pregnant characters.


	20. Chapter Twenty

Kathryn Merlin: Yes, I'm going to have Mara go through pregnancy phases. I hate stories where a character finds out she's pregnant, then the writer goes "Eight/Nine Months Later...", because a lot of emotions and stuff can happen or develop in those months, so it's boring to just skip over them. Anyway, sorry for the lecture. Thanks for your review. 

**Chapter Twenty**

Han seemed to avoid Mara for the next few days - or maybe it was just that he did not want to be near Luke. She believed what he had told her about Luke noticing her a while ago, but she doubted that he had told her everything, so she wanted to ask him about it as soon as she caught him alone.

She did not have much time to watch him, though. Luke took her everywhere with him for the next few weeks. He taught her a little about the Force whenever he was not busy. One night, while they were taking a walk in a forest on Yavin Seven, he even noted that they had been married for exactly two months.

Mara was surprised that he cared. Since he was in a good mood, she almost tried asking him if they had met each other before somewhere, but he would want to know why she was curious. She just nodded.

"Something is bothering you," Luke said, stopping. Ahead was a thick stream, which led into a river not far away, that they had found when walking around here last night.

Mara shrugged, which usually meant that she did not want to give him a clear answer.

"Do you feel well?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, not very relieved. She knew that changing the subject did not mean that he was not still suspicious.

It started to rain a few moments later. Luke did not question his wife anymore, for now. She relaxed a bit and they walked back to the ship.

* * *

Mara had a dream in which she was on Tattooine, with Luke, only he was much different. She did not clearly make out any of the words they said to each other, but he was very kind and friendly. They both laughed once or twice. Mara didn't think that he had ever made her laugh in real life.

She was glad that she remembered the dream when she woke up the next morning. For a second, she wondered what Luke had been like when he was a Jedi.

He only referred to his old life when he and his wife were talking about the Force, while explaining some of the flaws in the Jedi Order. Mara agreed with almost everything he pointed out; she couldn't deny it. Yoda or Obi-Wan would probably say that Luke had been deceived by his father, but Mara did not agree. She and Darth Vader both knew that Luke was not weak. Trying to trick him was useless.

Mara had also developed more respect for her father-in-law in the past few weeks. She was not any less scared of him, but her and Luke's discussions about the Empire helped her see things from his and Vader's point of view.

She smiled briefly to herself as she approached the ship's cockpit, and looked at Luke for a moment before sitting in the seat next to his.

* * *

They returned to Naboo that night. While Luke was taking a shower, Mara went out to the balcony and called Leia. Han answered, but he quickly gave the comlink to his wife before Mara could try to ask him anything.

"How are you feeling?" Leia asked.

"Fine," Mara replied. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Did you and Han and Luke ever meet me before I was captured?"

"No, not that I know of," Leia answered, without hesitating.

Although Mara could not sense lies yet - and would not be able to detect dishonesty through a comlink conversation, anyway - she felt certain that her sister-in-law was not lying.

"Oh."

"Why?"

"I was just wondering."

Leia hesitated now, as if she were curious. "Good night."

"Good night."

* * *

Leia came over the next afternoon, alone - she said that Han was tired. Mara doubted that.

"I've got something for you," her sister-in-law said quietly as they went into the living room. "But don't let Luke see it."

"Alright," Mara replied, though she was not promising.

Leia handed her a couple of pictures. Both showed her with Luke. He looked different in these - much like the kind, caring man that had been in Mara's dream the other night. He had his arms around Leia in both pictures. She was smiling in one of them, but it seemed fake.

"Lando took those," she said. "That was a few weeks before Luke and I learned that we were related, but I was already in love with Han. He was still in carbonite then."

"Luke was still a Jedi when you took these," Mara guessed.

Leia nodded. "So don't show them to him."

"I won't."


	21. Chapter TwentyOne

**Chapter Twenty-One**

Mara Jade Skywalker's interest in the old Luke faded within a week. She was starting to feel strongly for the Sith Lord, and there was no reason to try to learn more about his former self. She left Han alone and didn't try to question him. Although she was still a little curious about how Luke had found her before, she supposed it was not really necessary to hear about it, since she was with him now.

One afternoon - their three-month anniversary, Mara had realized - they went to a restaurant on Yavin Three that she liked. One of the waiters brought her some kind of grilled fish, and she politely told him that she had wanted the bantha steak. Fish had been making her feel sick lately. The man apologized nervously and quickly went back to the kitchen.

Mara was not annoyed, two days later, but while she was laying in the bedroom inside her and Luke's ship, she read that the place had suddenly closed.

She sighed, feeling sorry for the owner and the waiters. Looking through the rest of the magazine, the only other interesting thing she noticed was a picture of her and Leia at the opening of a garden on Naboo last week - Luke had been there, too, but had hid his presence most of the time.

He had just instructed his agents to inform most of the major periodicals about Mara being pregnant, so she expected that to be on the front of every daily newspaper tomorrow.

She tossed the magazine onto the floor and slid it underneath the bed, then got up and went back to the front of the ship.

"Are we almost there?" she asked, touching Luke's shoulder.

"Yes," he said. Naboo was already coming into view.

Mara sat down so that she could concentrate. She wanted to see if she could feel Vader and Leia's presences when they landed.

"I am starting to appreciate everything you have done for me," she said, without really thinking.

Rather than throwing that in her face or teasing her, Luke simply replied, "I knew that you would."

Mara smiled. Her memories from before their marriage were starting to become faint, even though she and Luke had only been together for three months. She wondered if he was somehow causing that, but did not want to ask. Perhaps it was herself; she had mostly stopped caring about her former life.

* * *

Later, while Luke was meditating in one of the other rooms, Mara looked at the pictures that Leia had given her, which she kept in the bottom drawer of her nightstand. It was not a good hiding place, but if her husband had looked in there, he probably would have gotten rid of them. Mara knew she shouldn't keep them, since they were taken during Luke's old life, but she couldn't throw them away.

After changing into a dark blue nightgown, she quietly went to the empty bedroom next door, the one that Luke used for meditation. Luckily, he had left the door open, so Mara was able to quietly walk in without distracting him.

He turned to her as she approached.

"Sorry," she said quietly, hugging him. "I'm going to bed. Good night, in case I don't see you."

She hated it when he left during night or early in the morning without waking her, or letting her go along. He had stopped that weeks ago, since he preferred to take her everywhere with him, but she wanted him to know that it bothered her.

"I apologize for worrying you again," he said.

His sarcastic apologies offended Mara more than they did before, so she said nothing. She shrugged and let go of him, and went back to their bedroom.

* * *

The morning, Mara didn't feel sick or too tired, so Luke thought it was safe for her to be on a speeder bike. He did not let her pilot it, but she did not mind. They rode around for almost an hour before she guessed that they were not going anywhere in particular.

They stopped near the closest neighbor around, a house that was not as big as theirs or Vader's, but still nice. Nobody had lived there for the past month, but now there was a light-blue speeder outside. Luke almost went closer, but then the house's front door opened, so he kept the speeder bike just within the trees.

A human couple came out. The red-haired woman was the same one that Luke had seen on Dantooine a month or two ago. The man, who seemed to be her husband, was not Force-strong, but Mara still could have inherited her strength from her mother.

Mara looked at them for a second, but she did not seem to notice how the woman looked like her. She probably felt that the woman was Force-sensitive, but did not say anything about it.

"Do you know them?" she asked, resting her head against his back for a moment.

"No," Luke answered, deciding there was no reason to mention that he had seen them before. If they moved here, they would live almost two hours away, so Mara would not be interested in them.

He turned the bike away - not caring if the other couple heard it - and they left.


	22. Chapter TwentyTwo

Author's note (please read): If my updates are a little slow, it's because I'm editing the Moonlight series. I'm just fixing grammar, spelling, etc., and maybe adding a few scenes. I'll make a note when I'm done, but you won't really have to read them again unless you want to. 

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

That evening, Mara could not get to sleep, mostly because Luke had gone somewhere earlier and was not back yet. She made an obvious sad sigh before he left, to try to annoy him, but he did not ask her if she felt like going.

She reached for her comlink, which was sitting on the nightstand, then got out of bed and went over to the balcony's door, trying not to stumble in the dark room. As she started to open it, somebody grabbed her.

"Don't do that!" she hissed. She turned around, but did not try to get away from Luke.

He touched her cheek. "I am happy to see you, as well."

She sighed, irritated, but somehow felt as if his comment was not sarcastic. She opened the balcony door and went outside.

"Is the baby alright?" she asked as she sat down on the bench. She had tried focusing on it a couple of times, but was not able to sense anything.

"Yes," Luke answered, sitting next to her.

She leaned against him, and he felt her relax. She was quiet for a long moment, appearing to be thinking about something. He stroked her hair.

"Will you train me more?" she asked him. "After the baby is born?"

He had not expected to hear something like that.

"You want me to?"

"Yes."

"Of course I will," Luke said, sounding pleased that she was interested in the Sith Order. "I have wanted to have you as my apprentice."

She sat up a little. "You have? For a while?"

"Since I first discovered you."

"When was that?" Mara asked.

Before Luke had to answer her, her comlink, lying next to her on the bench, began beeping. She hesitated, but answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hello," Leia replied.

"Leia? Why are you calling so late?"

"It's only nine o' clock."

"Oh. Sorry," Mara said as her husband stood up. She followed him inside.

"I'm a little tired," she added.

"So am I," Leia said. "Good night."

"Good night." Mara turned off her comlink and set it on her nightstand. She went back to bed without trying to ask Luke anything else.

* * *

The next morning, Luke kissed her once or twice to wake her up. She hugged him, thinking about their conversation last night, and suddenly realized that she was one of the only people that he was kind to. She would not have imagined Vader or his son caring about anyone, but she supposed that each of them had a speck of light somewhere inside them, despite how evil they were.

_Evil if you are against their Empire_, she thought. She understood her father-in-law's point of view - the Rebels were an annoyance.

From the rumors she had heard, from her and Luke's agents, the Rebellion did not hate her as much as she had expected. Many of them guessed that she was some poor girl he had captured. That had been true at first, but she hoped that they were not thinking of trying to rescue her or anything like that.

"Are you leaving?" she asked Luke, sitting up.

"We are going to Imperial City."

"Oh." Mara remembered him telling her yesterday. She did not feel sick, luckily. She got up and went to get dressed.


	23. Chapter TwentyThree

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

When they arrived on Imperial City that evening, they went to a party that Admiral Tarryns was having for one of his daughters and her new fiancée. Mara Jade was not in the mood to go to a social event, but Luke assured her that they were not staying long. He liked to show up sometimes, without an invitation, probably to make the officers or some of the guests nervous.

Mara had a small task - she was watching for a Falleen man, a bounty hunter that did great work if you were having trouble finding Boba Fett, or if he was busy. Looking around, though, Mara only noticed two Falleen women.

Admiral Tarryns and his wife said hello to Luke and Mara. A couple of other brave guests - mostly other Imperial officers - approached them, too. Mara was given a lot of compliments about how great she looked. She thought that was a little dumb, since she was not exactly three months pregnant yet and was not showing. But she knew that they were trying to get on her and Luke's good side.

After more than half-an-hour, the bounty hunter had not shown up. Mara and Luke left.

* * *

They stayed in the ship that night, as usual, since neither of them felt like going to a hotel.

While Luke was cleaning the dashboard in the cockpit, Mara went back to the small bedroom. She pulled out a magazine from under the bed - the one where she had read about that restaurant closing - and tossed it to the floor. She stared at it for a few seconds, trying to make it move.

After two or three more attempts, she gave up and pushed the magazine back underneath the bed, then lay down.

She was almost asleep when Luke came to bed. He kissed her cheek, but did not try to wake her up.

_I love you_, she thought. She came close to saying it out loud, but was too nervous.

_He's probably sensed it already, anyway_.

* * *

That thought made Mara act a little strange the next day. Luke felt her almost shy mood. She did not want to sit in the cockpit with him on the way to Kashyyk. When they approached the planet, he went to the bedroom and asked her if she wanted to try landing the ship.

She could not ignore that, so she followed him back to the cockpit.

-----------------

Author's note: Sorry that this chapter was short. The next one is going to have a small "...weeks later", so I didn't want to put that in the middle of a chapter.


	24. Chapter TwentyFour

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

Mara Jade Skywalker said nothing about her feelings during the next couple of weeks. That was actually easy. She did not feel like she should hurry to tell Luke or confide in Leia, since Luke felt her emotions, and Leia had probably guessed by now.

She was almost four months pregnant when she and Luke saw Shayne and Rose again, at a pod race on Tattooine. They were going into one of the box seats, the one next to Luke and Mara's.

Mara did not really care, since her husband was hiding them and she was not interested in talking to Erica and Shayne. She was starting to guess, though, that they might have gotten some money for cooperating and easily giving her over, since they were spending so much time in the upper class social scene on Imperial scene and buying expensive box seats at pod races.

Even though their presences were hidden, Luke and Mara did not enter their box until after Shayne and Rose had gone inside theirs.

This was the first race they had gone to in almost two months. Mara remembered the first time they had come here, when she had sat a few inches away from Luke, as much as the white couch would allow her to.

Two human girls, from the arena's staff, were inside. They quickly set a few glasses of water on the table in front of the couch, then left. Mara looked at the tray of refreshments, but she did not see anything that she felt like eating.

She smiled to herself as she sat down on the couch. Earlier, when she went to the doctor one of the Star Destroyers - she had not felt well enough to follow Luke around - the doctor told her that the baby was a girl. She knew that Luke had not sensed that already, since she had asked him about it before.

She decided to tell him later, since the box they were in might have surveillance. They always spoke softly in here, almost whispering, even though they were alone.

"I love you," she said quietly, in Huttese - she had asked Amidala how to say it, since she did not know a lot of Huttese yet.

Luke stroked her hair once or twice. She leaned against him and looked at one of the large screens in the room, the one that showed where some of the racers were getting their pods ready.

One of them was being helped by a Falleen man, who happened to be bounty hunter that Luke and Mara sometimes used. He was doing a good job of pretending to study the pod's engine. Maybe he did not have any assignments right now, and really was working on it.

Luke studied Mara for a moment, touching her hair again. Even when he had first started training with Yoda, and learned some of the old rules of the Jedi Order, he had not actually decided to follow all of them, including the one about not having relationships. Later, after he turned, Vader told him that Yoda was divorced. He had not been surprised to learn that his teacher had once broken at least one of the Order's rules.

"I can't believe he's trying to race that thing again," Mara said, interrupting her husband's thoughts. "At least he painted it."

She did not point out the racer that she was talking about. Luke knew she was mostly trying trying to change the subject, since she felt awkward after admitting her feelings just now. He forgot about Yoda and concentrated on his wife and the pod race.

------------

Author's note: I know that Luke almost always has a daughter in my stories, but I might do a sequel to this one and I wanted him and Mara to have a daughter in it.


	25. Chapter TwentyFive

Countess Jackman: Luke speaks Huttese; that's why Mara wanted to say it to him in that language. 

**Author's note** **(read please):** Please leave me a review and let me know if any of you go to my profile instead of just to the story itself. I want to know because then I could put some of my notes in the profile instead of having to copy and paste them into each of my updates.

Also, my site (the homepage link in my profile) is closed now, because I was mainly updating just to link my fanfiction, and you can just go to my profile for that.

**Chapter Twenty-Five**

"What made you start to...like him?" Mara asked her mother-in-law.

They were sitting at the table in the kitchen, in Amidala and Vader's house. Vader and Luke were upstairs in the large, empty room that they used for practice fighting. Han and Leia were on the front porch.

Amidala shrugged. "I think he really wanted me as his wife. He finally told me that he had been watching me for a while. I doubt that he just wanted me to have a child for him, or else he would have just picked anybody."

Mara nodded. She wanted to go upstairs and watch their husbands fight, but her watching might be distracting.

Amidala glanced at the open magazine in front of her. "I wish that restaurant hadn't closed. I liked it."

"They accidently brought me fish, when Luke and I went there for our three-month anniversary."

"Oh. That explains it."

"I wasn't mad about it."

"I wouldn't be, either," Amidala replied, "but Vader and Luke are sometimes annoyed by little things. They're protective of us. There was a clothing store in your old town that closed just before you and Luke got engaged..."

"I know which one you're talking about," Mara said.

"Leia went there and found a dress she liked, but when she tried it on, one of the store's employees suggested that she get it a size bigger. Leia didn't like the way she said that, and now the employee is a janitor at a school on Cloud City."

Mara giggled, and was about to reply, but then they heard Vader and Luke approaching the kitchen's entrance. She said good night to Amidala, then went to the front porch to wait for Luke. She wanted to go home and sleep.

"I'm going to go ahead and buy baby clothes," Leia said as Mara came outside. She and Han were sitting together on one of the benches on the porch.

"Have someone else pick them up - carefully, please," Mara told her. "If anyone sees you touching anything pink, all of the magazines are going to talk about it."

"Of course," Leia said. There had already been one rumor going around - that Mara was having twins - but one of her and Luke's agents had contacted most of the major magazines and papers to let them know that it was not true, and warned them to be careful about publishing anymore gossip.

Luke came outside then. Mara noticed Han look away, pretending that he was ignoring Luke. He did that often, but she did not really feel bad for him, since she had never known the old Luke. If Han chose not to admire how powerful his friend had become or appreciate everything that Vader had done for Luke, then he was not much of a friend.

Mara realized that if Shayne, Erica, or Rose heard her say something like that, they would think she was a totally different person - but she was.

Luke took her arm, disturbing her thoughts. They left the porch and walked over to their house.

-----------

Please read the note at the beginning of the chapter if you didn't already. Thanks.


	26. Chapter TwentySix

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

Later, when Han and Leia went back inside, they had a small arguement.

"But do you think she acts a little strange?" Leia was asking. She was sitting on the edge of their bed, drying her hair some with a towel.

"No. I thought you wanted her to like Luke," Han said from inside their bathroom. He had just started shaving.

"I do, but...on her own."

"She does."

Leia shrugged. "She's just changed a lot since they were engaged. She agrees with everything he does and says."

"She can think for herself," Han replied.

Leia turned and looked at the open bathroom door. "I didn't know you were so defensive of my sister-in-law."

"I'm just making a point. If Mara was dumb enough for him to easily control her and brainwash her into anything he wants, he probably wouldn't think she was good enough for him."

"True," Leia admitted, picking up the viewing screen's remote. She turned it on and flipped through a few channels.

"Leia?"

"Yes?"

Han hesitated. "Don't bother them. Now that Luke has Mara, he might be kind of nice."

"What do you mean by 'now that'?" Leia replied. "Did he know her before?"

"Kind of, but let's not bother them, okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

Luke did not want Mara to go with him to Imperial City the next day. He was going to meet with one of their agents, who should have information about the human woman who looked like Mara.

Before Luke had to tell his wife to stay home, though, she said that she was tired and wanted to sleep some more. He told her that he would be back in a few hours.

He was not sure if he was going to tell her whatever the agent had found out about the red-haired woman. She had barely paid attention to the couple when she and Luke saw them outside their new house; perhaps she would not care. She was not the only girl in the galaxy with brilliant red hair, and would not jump to conclusions. Luke did not care, either, but he wanted to know if the woman could be Mara's mother.

But since his wife had no interest in the woman, there was really no need for Luke to say anything. He did not want to make her curious about her past, especially now that she had completely joined him and wanted him.

* * *

"Shayne!" Rose called as she sat down on the couch. She was holding a note in her hand.

"Yes?" he asked, entering the living room.

"That Twi'lek couple that moved in next door - they're having a private party at their new restaurant, so that they can try to meet some people around here," Rose said. "It's next week. We should go. I don't want to be rude."

"I didn't know that they have a restaurant," Shayne replied.

The note had been written by Amidala Vader, so that Rose and Shayne would not recognize the handwriting.

"Me neither," Rose said. "And it says 'Don't make Erica come with you; she'll probably feel bored at a party with a bunch of adults'. How sweet of them to think about her."

"I'll ask her if she wants to stay at one of her friends' houses."


	27. Chapter TwentySeven

**Chapter Twenty-Seven**

"I'm not going to bring anything to the party. It's at their restaurant, anyway," Rose said as Shayne came into their bedroom. She glanced at him. "Are you alright?"

He shrugged. "Nothing."

"What is it? Tell me."

Shayne hesitated. "I was talking to Wes at the repair shop. He hasn't heard of the party. His wife says that Pala and Alex have been on vacation for the past few days, and they won't be home for another two weeks. And he hasn't heard of their restaurant."

"The place isn't officially open yet," Rose pointed out, not looking suspicious at all. "Maybe they didn't want to invite her and Wes. They probably just said they were going somewhere, so they wouldn't be rude."

"Maybe."

* * *

Luke was inside his and Vader's private chambers at the main Imperial City base. He had learned that the red-haired woman was Mara's aunt, not her mother. His agent had only gotten information on her and her husband, and had not bothered to learn about her parents and siblings. He had not even gotten their names.

But Luke was not angry. The couple was Mara's aunt and uncle, not her parents, and they lived almost two hours away from her and Luke. Mara would probably not be interested even if her husband told her about them.

On the table, next to the couch Luke was sitting on, were a few new magazines. A couple of his and Mara's agents bought them, in case the prince or princess wanted to look for anything that bothered them.

He picked up the magazine on top of the pile and opened it to a random page, which happened to have a picture of his wife. It was an article about a couple of fashion designers, and showed Mara wearing one of their gowns. Nothing much about Mara herself. Luke set the magazine on top of the pile again, then got up and left.

* * *

It was evening when he returned to Naboo. He rode around in his speeder for nearly two hours before going home, to make Mara worry. He did this occasionally, to see her reaction and sense how her feelings were developing. Lately, she had sounded annoyed when he came home later than she had expected, but she actually felt more sad.

Luke found her in the living room. She was sitting in one of the armchairs, with a few quiet tears coming from her eyes.

"Are you seeing someone?" she asked him as she stood up. She did not come closer.

He grabbed her arm, roughly, and pulled her close. She whimpered.

"No," he said. He let go of her.

She sniffled, now feeling very hungry. She wondered if Luke thought that her mood changes were annoying, too.

He studied her for a moment, sensing that he had not hurt the baby.

"I'm sorry," she said. She hugged him, then went to the kitchen.

* * *

While they were eating dinner, they talked about Mara meeting Shayne and Rose. It had been Luke's idea, and Mara had a feeling that he was testing her. He probably wanted to see if she could talk to her adopted parents without longing to go back to them. She was mostly going to warn them about doing any interviews or trying to bother her, although neither of them had.

At first, Mara had wanted Shayne and Rose to see the baby when it was born, but she had changed her mind and did not ask Luke about it. She might send them a card, which would probably not give them much more information than any of the newspapers and magazines.

"Will you hide your presence?" she asked Luke. "I want Shayne and Rose to think that I'm alone."

"I will," he replied.

Mara glanced at the rest of the pasta on her plate, suddenly feeling disgusted by it.

"Maybe your mother could come with us," she said. Of course, if Amidala joined them, so would Vader. Thinking of her father-in-law surprising Shayne and Rose almost amused her.

"You are nervous," said Luke.

"No," she said, not sure if she meant it or not. "Nevermind."

"Even if you are affected by seeing them..."

"I _won't_ be, and you know it," Mara said, almost firmly. She had never tried to interrupt him before.

He seemed pleased. "Yes, I do."

She smiled, feeling better.


	28. Chapter TwentyEight

**Chapter Twenty-Eight**

The day before the party, Rose and Shayne found a note on their front door, when they were coming back from the store. It was from Pala, asking if Rose could come early and help her set up.

"Why didn't she just call us?" Shayne asked after his wife read it.

"Maybe she's worried that it's rude," Rose said, still not suspicious. "I think it's sweet that she asked me."

"She must really like you, and we've only met them a couple of times," Shayne replied. He almost added that neither of them had said anything about opening a restaurant.

Rose sighed. "Stop. We already told Erica that she could spend the night at Lisa's house."

"She can, but we don't have to go to the party, do we?"

"Pala is going to be upset if we don't. And what's so wrong with her wanting me to come early? She probably asked a few other people, too."

"Maybe," Shayne replied.

"You can stay if you want," Rose added, "but I'm going. Most of our old friends are too scared to talk to us, because of Mara. I'm glad that someone invited us to a party."

"Alright, we'll go."

* * *

It took them more than an hour to reach the place. At first, Shayne thought they had misread the directions that had been included on the invitation, but the building they found matched the description Pala had given. Even Rose wondered why Pala and Alex were opening a restaurant that was so far from the town, but she did not say anything. 

There were no other speeders in the parking area. The building was small. Pink curtains were closed over the windows, but Shayne could see that the lights were on inside. He relaxed a little.

He and Rose went to the door at the back of the building, as Pala's note had told them. It was open.

The large room they entered looked fancy. Dark wooden tables and chairs were already set up. Rose and Shayne did not know that this actually was going to a restaurant, but one of Luke and Mara's part-time spies owned it.

* * *

Mara was sitting in a room at the back, one of the lounges that was reserved for private parties and events. She was wearing a dark purple dress, and her stomach showed a little. She smiled at Luke, who was standing near the couch. Since she could see him all the time now, she could not tell whether he was concealing his presence or not. 

There was a tray of empty glasses on the table next to the couch. Luke pointed at the tray and mentally pushed it off the table. It fell to the hardwood floor. The glasses shattered.

Shayne and Rose heard the noise. They came into the room.

"Mara," Shayne said, sounding as if he was not completely surprised.

"You..." Rose started, realizing that the party invitation had been fake.

Mara nodded. Neither of her adopted parents paid any attention to Luke, meaning that he was still hidden.

"Does Luke know that you're here?" Shayne asked. "Did you come because you want us to take you?"

"'His Highness'. And yes, he does know," Mara said, standing up.

Rose glanced at her stomach. "Congratulations. You could have sent us a note or something."

"We..." Mara hesitated. Hadn't Luke sent someone tell them about her pregnancy? He must have lied about it. That was before she was able to detect lies.

"What?" Shayne asked.

"Nothing. I wanted to see you because I have been told that you two have gone to a few events lately, including the opening of the new Dantooine base?"

"Yes," Rose replied. "We thought you might be there."

"Exactly," Mara said. "You will make no more attempts to follow me or contact me."

"What?"

"We've raised you since you were a baby," Shayne said, raising his voice,"and now you pretend that we have nothing to do with you. You know that it wasn't our choice to give you up."

Mara did not seem to care, or was doing a good job of pretending. "If you have any objections, I will gladly let my husband know that you want to talk with him."

"Don't," Shayne said irritably. "Can we go?"

"Yes."


	29. Chapter TwentyNine

Author's note: I've started a new story, which I'll upload in a few days.

**Chapter Twenty-Nine**

"I can't believe her," Rose said angrily, once she and Shayne were almost home.

Her husband looked more glum and disappointed than angry. "Me neither."

"She didn't even look upset, not for a moment."

"Do you want to get coffee?"

"Alright." Rose sighed. "Do you think she'll try to scare Erica?"

"I doubt it, or else she would have wanted all of us to come," Shayne replied. "Can you believe that Luke - His Highness - wasn't there?"

Rose smirked. "Mara's latched onto him in almost picture I see of her. I wonder if they've found out whether the baby is a girl or boy."

"Don't worry about it. They aren't going to let us visit."

"I won't expect it." Rose thought for a second. "Well, if she's going to act like this, we'll just leave her alone like she wants. She'll probably feel bad after the baby is born, and try to be friendly with us."

Shayne did not agree, but just shrugged.

* * *

"I love you," Luke told Mara, in Huttese, as she was getting into bed that night. 

She paused and looked at him for a moment, then snuggled underneath the blankets. He had not directly said those words to her yet.

"I love you," she repeated, not knowing the Huttese word for "too".

Luke switched to Basic. "I am proud of you. You did not seem to miss Rose and Shayne at all."

Mara hesitated before moving closer to him. "You told me that they were informed about my pregnancy - that was when I couldn't sense lies..."

"Yes. Does it matter?"

"Not really, but I don't like the idea of you lying to me, whether I can sense dishonesty or not," Mara replied quietly, finally moving over to Luke. She rested her head on his bare chest for a moment, then sat up again.

He touched her cheek. "I cannot wait to train you. I am almost impatient."

"Me, too," she said, feeling better. She understood why he had lied to her - he had not wanted her to worry about upsetting Rose and Shayne. They did not have much of a right to act like grandparents, anyway. They did not protest very much when Luke took her away from them - even if they _had_ just wanted to cooperate - and she was not going to forgive them.

Annoyed, she looked at the lamp on the table on her side of the bed, trying to mentally turn it off. No luck. Luke guessed was she was doing and turned it off himself. She rested her head on his chest again and soon fell asleep.

* * *

"Tell me," Leia insisted. She and Han were in bed, too, watching a movie. 

Darth Vader was taking Amidala to an island on the other side of Naboo. They had left earlier that afternoon, and would not be back for four days. Han was a little relieved. He barely spoke to Vader and Amidala, and avoided them, but it would be nice to have a few days alone with Leia.

But soon, he would begin trying to get on his in-laws' good side. He wanted to get a house for Leia and himself - first, of course, he would mention the idea to Leia. He was certain that she would not hate it, and she might be able to talk Vader into letting her move out.

"Well..." he started.

"Don't try lying to me," she said playfully, but meaning it. "Daddy has been working with me. I'm already starting to sense dishonesty."

"I wouldn't lie to you," Han said. "You, me, Luke, Lando, and Chewbacca went to that restaurant..."

"...and Luke noticed Mara when she was leaving, right?" Leia asked. "What happened?"

"You wanted to go back to the ship, because you _said_ you didn't feel well, and I offered to take you."

"Right - and I really _didn't_ feel well."

"Anyway," Han continued, "remember when we met up with Luke the next afternoon, at the cafe?"

"Yeah."

"Lando told me that after you and I left the restaurant, Luke left a minute later, and didn't come back. Lando and Chewie didn't see him all night."

"Really? Where was he?" Leia asked, sitting up. She picked up the remote and turned off the movie.

"Lando and Chewie didn't ask," Han said. "They thought he might have had some last-minute Jedi stuff to do. I think he was following Mara around."

"Did he tell you that?"

"No. I didn't ask."

"Maybe I'll ask him," Leia replied. She picked up the remote and turned the screen on again, and began looking for another movie.

"Don't," Han said. "Don't bother him."

"Alright."


	30. Chapter Thirty

**Chapter Thirty**

(four months later)

Leia took Mara's hand and led her into the small room. Mara felt exhausted and depressed. She did not even know what planet they were on; she had not been paying much attention to any of her in-laws on the way here. As much as she hated to think it, she was more concerned about Luke than she was about the baby.

"Where is he?" she asked after laying down on the bed.

"Naboo," Amidala told her daughter-in-law for the third time, but she was not irritated.

Leia touched Mara's shoulder. "The doctors think the baby will be fine, even though it's a month early."

Mara was still looking at Amidala. "Can he get here in time?"

"Not likely," Vader said.

"Daddy..." Leia started.

Mara appreciated her father-in-law's honesty, and hoped that she would not start crying. She closed her eyes, then opened them again as a couple of doctors entered the room. She felt tired enough to go to sleep even without being sedated. Finally, she remembered that they were on the _Executor_, but still did not know what system they were near. She did not care to ask.

Vader and Amidala left - Amidala was worried that the doctors would be too nervous and skittish with her and Vader here, and might mess up.

One of the doctors came over to the bed and gave Mara a shot. He seemed to be much more at ease now, probably less afraid of her and Leia than he was of Vader and Luke. Within a few moments, she fell asleep.

* * *

(a while ago)

"You have to try one of these," Lando said as the waitress, a teenage Falleen girl, set the tray of drinks down on their table. He turned and stared at her for a moment as she walked away.

"No," Luke said, still looking at the restaurant's entrance.

Lando picked up one of the glasses of pink juice. "Come on. You can relax for one night. Have you even _glanced_ at any of these waitresses?"

Chewbacca growled. Luke finally moved his eyes away from the entrance for just a second, to give Lando an irritated look. He seemed strange all of a sudden - not exactly in an angry mood, but distant, and he looked at Lando as if he were a noisy, annoying child.

"Sorry," Lando said. "I'm kinda stressed, too. I'm hoping that monster doesn't catch us before we can meet up with the other Rebels."

"Monster?"

"Vader."

"Lord Vader," Luke corrected.

"What?" Lando took a sip of his drink.

"Lord Vader."

Lando shrugged. "Alright, if you wanna be proper..."

"You should have _some_ respect for him," Luke interrupted, watching the restaurant's entrance again.

Chewbacca looked as if he were about to say something, but changed his mind.

"Want me to call Han and see if Leia is feeling any better?" Lando asked.

"Yes," Luke answered, standing up. "I will see you at the café tomorrow."

"Where are you going?"

"I have to meet someone," Luke said, and he impatiently left before either of his friends could try to ask more questions.

Once he was out of the restaurant, he looked around, but did not see the Force-strong human girl anywhere.

He took his comlink out from a pocket inside his black cloak, thinking of trying to call Vader. But he did not know his father's number, and he would have to talk to him in person, so that Vader could sense that he was being honest about the decision he'd made.

A human girl, who was talking on her comlink, suddenly brushed against him. Her hair was the same brilliant red as the other girl's, but a little shorter, and she was not Force-strong.

"Sorry!" she said, and went into the restaurant.

Luke ignored her and decided to leave, before Chewbacca and Lando came outside and saw that he was still here.

He glanced around again, still not seeing the girl he had spotted, then began walking away. For a moment, he thought of Obi-Wan and Yoda. He knew that they were going to sense he was different when he went to see them, but he could pretend to be clueless about it. He was only going to see them in case they said something about where to find Vader - and he wanted to find out why Obi-Wan had said that Vader killed Luke's father.

The Force-strong girl suddenly came out of a dance club, almost bumping into Luke. She brushed against him, but did not bother to say anything, like the other girl had done earlier, and he did not have enough time to sense what kind of mood she was in. She was probably cautious about being out alone at night. He pulled the hood of his cloak over his head and followed her.


	31. Chapter ThirtyOne

**Chapter Thirty-One**

(a while ago)

Luke looked tired, but mostly distant, when he met Leia, Han, and Lando outside of the café the next morning - Chewbacca and the droids had stayed with the _Millenium Falcon_. He was almost ten minutes late, too. Usually, he was here before everyone else.

"Want some coffee?" Han asked quickly as Luke sat next to him at the table. He glanced at Leia, trying to silently tell her not to bother Luke. She either did not understand or did not care.

"What's wrong?" she asked, resting her hand on Luke's shoulder.

"Nothing," he said, sounding almost irritated.

Leia removed her hand. "Are you sure?"

"Leia, leave him alone," Han said.

He expected her to snap at him, but she did not say anything.

"I was thinking," Luke said, "that we should immediately re-group with the others. I will be there as soon as I get back from Dagobah."

"Now? Mon Mothma wanted us to wait a week or two," Leia replied.

"No," Luke told her firmly. "That's a stupid idea."

"A few of the Y-wings need repairs," Lando reminded him.

"It won't take a week to repair them," Han pointed out.

"No, it won't," Luke said, "and if we approached Lord Vader's fleet ourselves, sooner, perhaps we would actually make some progress."

"What do you mean by that?" Leia asked.

"We can contact the others and see what they think," said Han, touching Leia's arm. He did not want to argue and make Luke's mood worse.

Luke noticed how uneasy Leia was. She and the others might suspect that he was up to something. He would have to be careful about how he acted until he had a chance to go see his father. He had tried to mentally reach Darth Vader two or three times last night, but had not gotten a response.

"I just thought it would be a good idea," he said in a nicer, apologetic tone.

Leia seemed to relax a bit. "Alright. Let's go back to the _Falcon_ so that we can leave."

* * *

Leia sighed and touched Mara's arm. Her sister-in-law had not woken up yet. Vader and Amidala were outside in the hall; Amidala had suggested that Mara might be more calm if only Leia was there when she woke up.

The baby whimpered once. Leia went over to the small crib on the other side of the room, seeing that she was still asleep.

Just as Leia reached down to touch her new niece's red hair, Luke entered the room.

"Thank you for coming," Leia said irritably, briefly feeling like her old self. Her brother and father had not started to make her Sith-like yet - though they would get started on that soon - but she still felt like she had changed some since her brother had turned.

Luke ignored her and came over to the crib. The baby softly whimpered again and kept sleeping.

"Her eyes are blue," Leia said. She finally got the idea that Luke wanted her to leave. "I'm going to the command area."

Once she was gone, Luke gently touched the baby's chin. He had already decided that her name was going to be Beru.

Mara opened her eyes a few minutes later, when Luke tried to mentally connect with her and wake her up. She looked at him, with a sad, lost mood, then closed her eyes again.

_Can you stand_? he asked mentally. He glanced at Beru again, then went over to the bed.

_Maybe_, Mara replied. _The doctors want me to stay here tonight, but I don't think I have to. Is the baby alright_?

"Yes," Luke answered out loud, touching her back as she slowly sat up.

"Where were you?" she asked.

"The main Naboo base."

"Oh, right," Mara replied, remembering Amidala telling her earlier. "Can we go now?"

"Yes."


	32. Chapter ThirtyTwo

Author's note: Sorry for not updating in so long. I'm not sure if anyone is reading this, but I wanted to start updating it again. 

**Chapter Thirty-Two**

Even though Luke had silently called his new daughter Beru, inside the room on the _Executor_, he changed his mind as his ship left. He did not want to give her a name that would make him think of his old life, even though he did not hate his step-aunt.

Mara, carrying the baby, came back to the cockpit, after changing her diaper the bedroom at the back of the ship. The doctors on the _Executor_ had not wanted Mara to leave yet, but Luke did not sense that anything was wrong with her or the baby, so he wanted to return to Naboo. If something happened, they would go to the doctors at the Imperial base there.

"She's finally asleep," Mara whispered. She had put a warm, white body outfit on her daughter. Last week, she bought a few baby clothes, to keep in the ship's bedroom.

"What do you want to name her?" Luke asked.

"I don't know," Mara said. She had not expected him to let her have any say, so she had not bothered coming up with suggestions.

While she was thinking of something, Luke changed the subject. "I will begin training you next month, so that you have time to recover."

"Okay," his wife replied, already impatient. During the past four months, any fear she had about becoming a Sith apprentice had faded. "Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"You told me once that when you first discovered me, you wanted me to be your apprentice."

"Yes."

"Did you always plan to marry me?" Mara lightly touched the baby's chin with one finger, careful not to wake her up.

"Yes," Luke answered. He turned his chair toward her a little, and reached over to stroke the baby's head. "One of our spies thinks that the Rebels may want to rescue you and the baby."

"They still want to? I've been married to you for nine months."

"Yes, but they do not know that you _want_ to be my wife. They think you are my prisoner. Once you are trained more, you will be able to show them how you really are."

"Good."

"For now," Luke added, "I do not want you to go anywhere without me or my father. Not even with Leia and Han."

"Okay," Mara said. She touched the baby's chin again. "Who is going to train her?"

"You and I, when she is fourteen," Luke said.

His wife smiled at the idea of them training their daughter together. The baby suddenly opened her eyes andstarted whimpering, so Mara took her back to the bedroom to feed her.

* * *

That evening, Leia came over to see how her sister-in-law and new niece were doing. Mara was upstairs, in her and Luke's bedroom, where the baby's crib was for now. Luke, Vader, and Amidala were talking in the garage. 

"How are you?" Leia asked as she hugged Mara.

"Fine," she whispered. The baby was asleep. "Her name is Luka, but we're going to call her Ami most of the time. That's her middle name."

Leia smiled. She reached down and touched Ami's hand. "Guess what?"

"What?" Mara asked.

"You know that guest house in our backyard? I asked Daddy if Han and I could move into it, and he said yes. "I think he trusts us enough to let us stay in a separate building. We aren't going to sneak away or anything."

Mara did notrespond at first. She suddenly had a strange feeling - something about her sister-in-law - that was bothering her. She didn't know why. Leia had not done anything to bother her. It was probably just her imagination. She was tired.

"That's nice," she said finally.

Leia tickled Ami's chin. "I heard about a pregnant woman in the Rebellion. She had her baby just a few days ago. It was born dead."

"It would have died anyway."

"What?"

"Well, he or she would have grown up being a Rebel, so they would have been captured or killed eventually," Mara replied.

"That's a horrible thing to say."

"It's true."

Leia stared at her for a moment, surprised at her coldness, then said, "Well, Han and I are going to get a few things for the guest house. I'll talk to you later."


	33. Chapter ThirtyThree

**Chapter Thirty-Three**

Early the next morning, Mara went outside to the bedroom's balcony, while Luke was taking a shower. Luka - they hadn't been calling her by her middle name, even though they had planned to - was in her crib, asleep for now.

Mara left the balcony door open, so that she could hear if the baby started crying. She went over to the bench and sat down, thinking of when she met Luke for the first time, in the woods behind her house - no, Shayne and Rose and Erica's house. She almost never thought about her adopted parents and sister. Now that she was with Luke, she could ask him about finding her real parents, but she was not really that interested in them.

She looked up as Luke came out to the balcony, wearing dark brown pants and no shirt.

"Are we going anywhere today?" she asked him.

"No," he answered. "I am going to the Executor tomorrow. You will stay with my parents."

"Okay," Mara said. She wanted to go with him, but she knew that she needed to rest. "I don't want to take Luka to any of the bases or Star Destroyers until she starts her training."

"I agree with that."

Mara was quiet for a second. "Is something wrong with Leia?"

Luke looked at her. "Why?"

"When she was here yesterday...well, I can't explain it, but there was something strange about her."

"You sensed that she is pregnant."

"Oh," Mara said. "How could I? You haven't taught me how to do that."

"There are some rare people who have feelings about something, even though they have no training or have never heard of the Force," Luke explained.

"Is she having a boy or a girl?"

"Twins."

"Boys or girls?" Mara asked, glad that Luka was going to have two cousins who were close to her age.

"See if you can detect that when she comes over tonight," Luke replied.

"Alright. Does she know?"

"No. My father will tell her."

* * *

That night, only Leia, Darth Vader, and Amidala came over - not Han. Leia said that he wanted to rearrange some of the new furniture they had bought for the guest house. The two of them were glad to be living in it. Since it was in Vader and Amidala's backyard, they could still be watched closely, but at least Han would be more comfortable. 

Leia knew that Han tried to avoid her family as much as possible, especially her father and Luke, and she was starting to wonder how long he would want to stay with her once she began her training. She could not imagine herself being a truly loyal Sith apprentice, but then again, she had never thought that Luke would become one.

She, Mara, and Amidala went into the living room, while Vader and Luke went upstairs to check on the baby.

* * *

Luka was still sleeping. She was wearing a white body outfit, one of the presents that Amidala had gotten her. Luke picked her up very carefully and handed her to her grandfather. 

"I will tell your sister later," Vader said, touching Luka's bit of red hair.

Luke knew what he was talking about. He softly asked, "Do you want to get rid of Han?"

"I was not planning to. You said that he was an excellent commander in the Rebellion. He could serve the Empire well."

"He could," Luke agreed.

They were both quiet when they heard someone coming up the stairs.

It was just Mara. She closed the bedroom door and came over to them. Surprisingly, she didn't seem to care that Vader was holding the baby.

"Is Leia having a boy and a girl?" she asked.

"Very good," Vader replied. He gave Luka to her.

"How long has she been pregnant?"

"Since yesterday," Luke answered.

Luka opened her eyes and started crying. Mara went into the next-door bedroom - Leia's old room - to change her, then took her downstairs.


	34. Chapter ThirtyFour

**Chapter Thirty-Four**

The next morning, Vader and Amidala came over to stay with Mara and Luka. Luke did not leave until after his parents were inside the house. He and his father had decided that for the next month or so, at least one of them would be with Leia, Amidala, Mara and the baby at all times.

Han and Leia, who now knew that she was pregnant, went with Luke to the _Executor_. Han did not really want to go, but he had been a little surprised when Luke invited him. He was suspicious, so he asked if Leia could come with them. Luke said yes, and did not seem to mind. Maybe he really wasn't planning anything.

Once the ship left Naboo, Leia went back to the refresher.

Han waited until he heard the door close, then looked at Luke. "Why did you want me to come with you?"

"You need to become familiar with the Executor," he answered.

"Why?"

"My father wants you to command it."

"No."

Luke looked toward the back of the ship. "You know that Leia does not resist us as much as she used to. If you do not join us, I am sure that the two of you will have problems later."

"Don't try to turn her against me," Han said. "She wouldn't leave me even if she wasn't pregnant."

They heard the door to the refresher open. When Leia came back into the cockpit, she stood behind Luke's seat and leaned down to wrap her arms around his neck.

"Thank you for inviting us," she told him. "It's nice to see the two of you getting along."

She kissed the top of his head, then went over to her seat, behind Han's.

Han glanced at Luke, then turned his chair sideways to face Leia more. "I love you."

She smiled at him. "I love you, too."

* * *

"What are you going to do if Han refuses?" Mara asked. She put Luka, who was quiet at the moment, in the crib. In one corner of the crib were a couple of stuffed animals, a dewback and a bantha, that Amidala had brought. 

"I don't think he will," Amidala said, "but if he does, we can do something to change his mind."

Vader stood behind her and slid his arms around her waist. Mara looked at them for a moment, remembering when she thought that she would never love Luke. Now she missed him, even though he, Leia, and Han left less than an hour ago.

Once the baby fell asleep, she, Vader, and Amidala went downstairs.

* * *

Sorry for the short chapter, I just wanted to update. The next one will be longer. 


	35. Chapter ThirtyFive

**Chapter Thirty-Five**

"When your training begins, I will give you a lightsaber," Luke said.

It was almost five o' clock. He, Leia, and Han had returned home an hour ago. On the _Executor_, they mostly stayed inside the private chambers. Han was quiet at first, but then started asking questions about the inside of the Star Destroyer. Soon, he and Luke were talking and seemed getting along with each other, which relieved Leia.

"I thought I was supposed to make it," Mara replied as she set Luka down in the crib.

"I am making a training saber. I will let you make your real lightsaber later."

"Oh. How long until I can use a real one?"

"Three months, at least. I want you to have plenty of practice first," Luke answered.

He had also thought about his wife while he was on the _Executor_ today. She was already doing a couple of things, like sensing dishonesty, but that was barely a start. Even so, Luke was glad that she was in love with him now. It would have been more difficult to train her while she was still in her resistant, unhappy phase.

"Do you think Han really wants to command the Executor?" asked Mara. She reached down and stroked Luka's head with her finger.

"I asked him, and he said yes. He was being honest."

"I wonder what made him change his mind."

"That is what I want you to talk to Leia about," Luke said.

He opened the door to the balcony and went out. After making sure that the baby was asleep, Mara joined him.

She suddenly remembered that Erica's fourteenth birthday was the day after tomorrow. She quickly forgot about it, though. She no longer considered her adopted sister or parents to be family.

She went to the balcony's railing and looked down at the backyard. Luke stood behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders.

"We are going to Tattooine tomorrow," he said.

"Just us?" Mara asked, thinking of the podraces they had gone to. Those were the first times she had enjoyed being with him.

"Yes, and Luka."

"Why?"

"I want to teach you a few things, and I think it will be easy for you to relax there," Luke answered.

"I thought you weren't going to begin my training for another month."

"Not any fighting."

Mara thought about something for a moment, then turned around and hugged him. "Do you mind if I go take a nap before Luka wakes up?"

Luke held her tightly for a moment, then let her go inside.

* * *

When Han came back to the bedroom, after taking a shower, Leia was in bed, watching a movie. She smiled at him. 

Both of them loved living in the guest house. It had two bedrooms, which would be fine for the next few years, until the twins were older and needed separate rooms. By then, Darth Vader and Luke would probably trust Han and Leia enough to let them buy a new house on a different street.

"You and Luke were almost friendly today," Leia said.

"I guess," her husband replied.

"What made you change your mind about the Executor?"

Han hesitated. "Well, with you being pregnant, I thought I should start getting along with Luke and your dad."

Leia looked at him. "You know that pretending isn't going to work. They'll know if you don't genuinely like them."

"And I never got to command any of the large ships in the Rebellion."

"Oh. So you really want to do this?"

"Yes," Han answered. He did mean it, but he was not going to mention what Luke had hinted at on the ship earlier, while Leia was in the refresher. If he accused Luke of trying to split him and Leia up, it was not unlikely that Leia would take her brother's side.


	36. Chapter ThirtySix

**Chapter Thirty-Six**

After a week of being the captain on the _Executor_, Han admitted that he liked it. He felt guilty at first, but he realized that he had mainly joined the Rebels because he wanted to stay loyal to Luke and Leia. If he went back to the Rebels now, he would be dumping his pregnant wife and betraying his brother-in-law.

Occasionally, he wondered how Chewbacca and Lando were doing now. He had no desire to contact Lando, but he considered persuading Chewbacca to work for the Empire as a spy. His former friend did have a life debt with him, although he would prefer for Chewbacca to want to join him.

When he had been the captain for six weeks, he was made admiral, and the previous admiral was transferred to the base on Yavin One.

-----

One evening, the day after Han was promoted, Mara was sitting on the couch in the living room, reading The Naboo News, Naboo's main newspaper. She saw an article about a party at the palace two days ago, for the queen's twenty-first birthday.

In one picture, there was Erica, her adopted sister, dancing with the queen's sixteen-year-old brother. She was fourteen now, and the caption underneath the picture said that she was an actress. She had already been in two movies. Mara had not gone to see either of them. But even though she no longer considered Erica family, she was a little impressed.

Luke came into the room, holding Luka, who was quiet right now. He set her down in the crib - she had one here in the living room as well as the one in her room.

"She'll probably want to be changed again when she wakes up," Mara said. "After that, can we practice?"

"Yes," Luke answered. They had started fighting with training sabers three weeks ago.

Once Luka was asleep, the two of them went out to the back porch. Mara left the door open behind them, so that they could hear the baby if she started crying.

Luke went to one of the benches, the same one on which Mara had been sitting when he told her that she was pregnant. She sat beside him and leaned against him for a moment.

"Are you ever going to tell me how you found me?" she asked, sitting up. She knew that she was here now, and that was what mattered, but she was still curious.

Luke told her everything, about being at the restaurant on Tattooine that night with Lando, Han, Leia, and Chewbacca, and how he had followed her around. She smiled when she heard that she had even brushed against him as she was walking away from the dance club.

"Why didn't you talk to me then?" she asked. "Then we could have dated, and if you asked me to marry you later on, I would have said yes."

"I wanted to go to my father first."

"Did you think that I wouldn't like you if you weren't rich?"

"No. I joined my father because I am loyal to him, not because of you," Luke answered. "But getting you first would not have made things any easier. How would you have felt if your boyfriend suddenly told you that he was Darth Vader's son and wanted to rule the galaxy with him?"

"If I really loved you - and I probably would have," Mara said, "then I would have married you anyway."

Luke rested his hand on her leg. After a few minutes of silence, Luka started crying.

Mara returned to the living room and changed her, then went upstairs and got the two training lightsabers from her and Luke's bedroom. They practiced in the backyard for half-an-hour, until there wasn't much daylight left, then went inside.

- The End -

Thanks for all of the reviews, and to anyone who didn't leave mean or stupid comments. I know this wasn't a good ending, but I'm going to have another Luke/Mara story soon, which I hope some of you will read.


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